Inner Strength
by Selenahaileen
Summary: What if Bella had a friend who moved along to Forks? What if Edward had been able to switch classes on that fateful day? What if James had another target, one that he had encountered before? A string of what-ifs, converted into an alternative Twilight as seen from Avery's point of view - not everything is the way it seems.
1. Prologue

It was a cold night. And not just a bit chilly, no, it was actually near the freezing point. The few people still on the streets were shivering in their thin summer clothes as they hurried inside, whether that be a home, a bar or a taxi. Earlier that day it had been 70 °F, and the cold weather had unexpectedly drifted down from the north. It had caught the midnight travellers by surprise, seeing it was not a temperature to be expected in late august. The wind that ran through the city streets carried the smells of fast food and combustion gasses and smoke along. The streetlights cast their yellow lights on the occasional passer-by and the fog that obstructed everyone's view.  
Especially that of a man exiting a friend's house, when the tiny specs of water condensated on his glasses. He turned his collar to the cold and humid weather, looked left and right, and began to walk. Normally he would've taken a taxi in such a night, but his own apartment was only four blocks away – why waste his money if he could easily walk. The sound of his footsteps echoed through the street, though the fog dimmed it somewhat. It had been raining earlier in the evening, resulting in a puddle here and then. He might have to dry his shoes once he got home. The black shell cordovans couldn't stand the humidity very well, and the next day he had an important meeting. This was his only neat pair, and thus he was more than careful with them.  
He rounded the first corner, and a car swooshed past in the opposite direction. A motorcycle revved up 80 feet away and left off southward. It was an all too familiar scenery, yet just like every self-respecting human being lacking defence skills or the confidence for them, he feared that what lurked in the dark.  
In his case it was a homeless cat, staring at him as he rounded a corner. The man attempted to shake off the ominous feeling, and tried to convince himself there was nothing there. He crossed the first perpendicular street. _See?_ he thought to himself, _there is nothing to be frightened of. Only three streets left, and then you'll be feeding the fish, cramming the dishwasher with cutlery and dishes.._ In his mind he summed up all the little tasks he had yet to do once he got home. More cars passed along with the time. He crossed the second street. And the third. He fought the urge to run the remaining part, and in a steady walking pace he walked across the fourth street.  
Suddenly he heard behind him a pair of footsteps - were they holding a gun, ready to accost and shoot him? He'd seen it in the news several times, that someone had been shot for their money. Or the lack of it, he didn't know. No, the man or woman had gone to the other side of the street.  
He rounded the last corner, and breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted his dark grey front door amongst rows of other dark grey front doors. But no, his was unique. The tiny scratches around the doorknob, the left upper corner where the original light brown colour was visible where the paint was gone. He knew exactly the size and shape of the cracks in the paint, and the iron 8 next to it was shiny from every time he rubbed it clean, which was once a week. Twice if he could help it.  
When he passed number 38 his heart skipped a beat.  
A figure emerged from the ochre fog, and it took him a lot of nerves to not stop and turn around immediately. The figure was unmistakably a person. They were walking on the same side of the road. And they were slowly closing the gap between them. At first it was nothing more than a dark shadow, but when the distance grew less he could see it was smaller than him. It was hooded, he noticed.  
He passed number 32.  
It passed 4.  
A lamppost shone its light on it, but the figure remained as hard visible as before. His thoughts immediately sprang to the black-and-white security camera images they always showed on TV when they were searching for the culprit of a robbery or something of that sort. Those figures were always hooded too. The man then mentally shook his head. No, it was unlikely that it was indeed a criminal. The youth nowadays liked to wear - what did they call them, hoodies or something? - all the time. There was nothing outstanding about this person. He'd really become terribly paranoid these last few weeks. Maybe Tom was right, that he did need a holiday. He was trying to distract himself, he knew that all too well, but the thought of a long vacation reassured him nevertheless.  
28.  
14.  
It was walking faster than him.  
He couldn't tell whether it was a boy or a girl, all he could see was its eyes.

Its red, cat-like eyes in the dark.

And they were locked onto his. His heart was beating like a propeller so fast. That.. thing wasn't normal at all. And this wasn't his imagination or his paranoia, it was after him. Before he reached 24 he stopped walking, paused for a second, and then turned left to cross the streets in a much faster pace. _Don't look back, don't look back._ He repeated over and over, like a mantra. _Don't look back…_ The sound of footsteps had stopped. Just before stepping onto the sidewalk he couldn't restrain himself. He had to see.  
With one foot already in the air he turned his head.

Then several things happened at the same time.

A fast wind parted the fog. He got swiped off his feet. Strands of hair blew in his face. The street and houses became a blur. It became very dark – an alley. A growling sound reached his ears. He was thrown onto the wet ground. His head collided with the stone pavement. And everything within one beat of his heart.

Little did he know the next beat would never come.


	2. Forks

It was January 2nd when I left Phoenix. Bella would finish the semester first and fly over somewhere in January. Until then, I was sure I had more than enough on me to-do list. Moving isn't as easy as it sounds after all, and as much as I loved her as a friend, Bella wasn't exactly the handiest person I knew.

"Will you text me when you've landed?" she asked softly. We were at Phoenix airport, me waiting in line for security with Bella and her mother Renée next to me. The resemblance between the last two wasn't much, but enough to see that they were related. They had the same brown hair (Renée's more curly), same heart shaped face, and they were more or less of an equal height. Renée Dwyer was an adventurous woman - Bella often stated that she was the child rather than the adult at home. Her skin had attained a golden shade because of the many sunny days in Phoenix - if it ever rained, which was only a few days a year, the rivers and streets would be flooded. Her blue eyes that were normally filled with enthusiasm now stood serious, on the brink of tears - so much even that both Bella and I were caught between laughing and crying along.  
Bella herself had warm, dark brown eyes, which now smiled timidly at the third person: me. I quickly scanned the line in front of me, which was quickly diminishing. I then nodded, smiling.  
"Of course I will. I wouldn't want you thinking my plane has crashed somewhere."  
Renée then stepped forward and wrapped me arms tightly around me, finding it hard to hold back the tears. "Thank you for doing this. Keep an eye on her for me, will you?" she whispered in my ear, soft enough for Bella not to hear.  
"I know you're not family," she continued louder when we pulled back, "but our door will always be open for you. Don't hesitate to stop by might you be accidentally passing." Renée wasn't exactly a maternal figure, but I did see her as a good friend.  
"Thank you Renée," I replied from the bottom of my heart, "I definitely will pay a visit once I'm settled."  
We moved several steps forward as the line moved on, and I took the remaining time to hug my best friend Bella.  
"Text me when you plan to move, I'll be waiting at the airport," I promised, and Bella nodded, biting her bottom lip.  
"See you in two months, then," she replied.  
"I expect you in one and a half at most. Don't you dare to leave me alone for any longer," I threatened with a grin.  
"Then one and a half it is," Bella grinned back. We stood there for a few seconds like that, until the woman checking passports called the next in line, which was me. I picked up the small black backpack from the floor, passport and flight ticket ready in one hand. After once last look, and a "See you," from Renée, she and Bella left. I turned and flashed a polite smile at the woman of security whilst handing the passport and boarding pass to her.  
"Name?"  
"Avery Lewis."  
"What are your intentions in.. Port Angeles, Washington?"  
"I'm moving to a village nearby."  
"Olympic Peninsula huh? What does a beautiful young lady as yourself have to do over there?" The woman looked like she could use a break, and took the chance to make small-talk with both hands. I mentally sighed at the needless adjectives, but remained polite.  
"Not for the weather, that's a sure thing – have a nice day." Agreed, that was a bit rude. Not willing to continue the conversation and keep up those waiting in line behind me I quickly – but not too fast - took my possessions from the woman, who'd offered them subconsciously, and made to leave to security. The woman mumbled a short "Thanks", disappointed that her chance had passed.

The airport is fairly large, and since there were for some reason little people at security, there was plenty of time left before the gate would open. There were more than enough souvenir shops, but like at every airport they sold their goods for at least twice the normal price. Which I found strange, since it _was_ a tax-free zone, wasn't it? I strolled past each of the tiny shops, watching but not buying. That jigsaw puzzle did look nice though… _No, don't fall for it, keep walking._ At another shop they sold greeting cards from the city and several of its highlights. With my backpack over one shoulder I lingered in front of it, unable to restrain myself. _Perhaps I could… As a memory…_ It took a while, but then I shook my head. No, this was stupid, I had lots of those already. _But still…_ In the end I forced myself to continue, not wanting to appear stupid or draw unwanted attention from the shop keeper. No, I took out my boarding pass and followed the signs to the right terminal and gate. Unsurprisingly, it was yet empty. _More sitting room for me._ _Not that you'll take it, that is unpolite._ _Oh shush._

Yes, I talk to myself. I walked up to the rows of simple but comfortable-looking chairs and sat down on one at the end of a row, facing the windows. Outside the sun had just risen, casting its blood red light at the distant mountain range.

I tucked the boarding pass in a small shoulder bag (to prevent getting pickpocketed) and took out a book from the backpack. _The Ranger's Apprentice: Ruins of Gorlan_. It had been published only two months ago, and it was a hit already. Being at chapter 17, I could see why. A relatable protagonist, the descriptive, humoristic and clear style of writing and a good plot. I hoped that the author, John Flanagan, would continue the series. It would be a shame if he wouldn't.

Meanwhile the seats around me slowly began to fill, and to make a longs story short, I finished the book easily within time. The gate opened, we all went through to the airplane (it was a smaller 3-3) where I stuffed the bag in the overhead luggage space and sat down to let those behind me pass. Luckily there was one seat between me and the next person: he had the window side, I that next to the aisle. First we were being taxied away, then after a short wait the plane quickly accelerated and began its ascend.

When it separated from the ground it didn't take long to climb to its designated height, and so I left my former home behind.

There is a lot that can be said about the places I've lived.  
One example is the apartment in Phoenix that I'd left behind. It was small, compact, and consisted of a living room and kitchen in one, with one small bedroom and a bathroom. Coincidentally, it was only several streets away from Bella and Renée's house. But the part of the apartment that I loved most was by far the balcony. Since I was young, I've always loved to be outside, regardless of the weather or climate. In Phoenix it had been the hot summer wind, the dust of the desert and semi-arid climate, and the faraway mountain range that emerged from the horizon.  
But Phoenix itself was also a beautiful city, with its own unique characteristics. The hustle and bustle of the nightlife, the sweaty tourists with their cameras, and a shop at nearly every corner of the street.  
The only thing that I disliked about cities like these was the crowdedness: I'm more of a solitude person.  
Anyhow, I'd lived there for about three years up until now, whilst Bella had spent nearly her entire life there. 11 Years, if I remembered correctly.  
Her mother Renée had left Forks when she left Charlie Swan, Bella's father, taking the two-years-old Bella with her. Bella usually didn't speak of the times she'd visited her father, but when she did it was with a bittersweet fondness.  
Good memories, but no need to relive them. For a couple of years she'd refused to go, but that action was short-lived, as she now 'exiled' herself to live with her father with a form of permanence.

And me?  
Having nothing that kept me tied to Phoenix except the city itself (with a few adjustments law would even permit it, thank goodness 18-year-olds are allowed to live by themselves), I decided to keep my friend a little longer and move along. Why? Honestly, I don't know. Perhaps it was because of sympathy, or maybe fate decided to meddle with my life.  
Either way, there was this bungalow several miles south of Forks, it wasn't in the ideal state but with some paint, new wooden beams here and there and a sweep over the floor it would make a lovely home.  
Caroline would've loved it…

With that prospect I found myself standing at Port Angeles airport after a four hour flight.  
From there I took the bus to my destination. With a medium-sized suitcase in one hand and backpack slung over one shoulder I hurried to one of the few busses. And it was raining cats and dogs.. In Phoenix it had been around 50°F, so I was wearing nothing more than a purple vest, jeans and trainers. Clearly, in Port Angeles it was a dozen degrees lower. Everyone was wearing at least a jacket, most a winter coat. No wonder I stood out like a sore thumb.  
"Whereto, miss?" the bus driver asked kindly. He was an elderly man, near his seventies I'd say. On the dashboard in front of him I noticed a small picture of two young children, a boy and a girl. _His grandchildren?_  
"To Forks, please," I replied with the first genuine smile in a long time. During the flight I'd had to be polite to too many people, most hadn't deserved it. Manners, people, manners… I gave him the money a single ticket cost.  
"You need any help with that?" He nodded with his head to my luggage, but I shook my head immediately.  
"I can manage, but thank you for asking." He nodded, and I proceeded to the back of the bus. There were six – no, seven people in total, each either staring as I passed, except for the individual who was too engrossed in her book to notice. In the far back the suitcase was placed in the legroom – it fit exactly – by which it formed a small wall between me and the rest of the bus. I myself was sitting near the window. Seeing the ride would take quite a while I placed a pair of headphones on and scrolled down the playlist on a white iPod.  
 _Let's play something positive today.  
_ Just as the first chords of _The Piano Man_ by Billy Joel came up – I had it on repeat - the bus started driving.

 _It's nine o'clock on a Saturday  
The regular crowd shuffles in  
There's an old man sitting next to me  
Makin' love to his tonic and gin_

 _He says, "Son, can you play me a memory  
I'm not really sure how it goes  
But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete  
When I wore a younger man's clothes"_

 _La la la, di da da  
La la, di da da da dum_

Soon after the bus hit the highway the scenery quickly changed from farmland into deep forests, lakes and mountains. We passed by the Olympic National Park, which was truly beautiful, despite the rain.

 _Sing us a song, you're the piano man  
Sing us a song tonight  
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody  
And you've got us feelin' alright_

 _Now John at the bar is a friend of mine  
He gets me my drinks for free  
And he's quick with a joke or to light up your smoke  
But there's someplace that he'd rather be  
He says, "Bill, I believe this is killing me"  
As the smile ran away from his face  
"Well I'm sure that I could be a movie star  
If I could get out of this place"_

 _Oh, la la la, di da da  
La la, di da da da dum_

We only stopped a few times, but nearly the entire Olympic Highway was driven in one piece. Not that I'd mind the extra time though. Over my life I'd come to love wild nature, especially mountains and forests – and this place had those abundantly. It was far more green than Phoenix – true, there were some trees, cacti and lots of bushes, but in my opinion it couldn't tip this in greenness. That reminded me of my promise to Bella and Renée, and I took out the small Nokia that was my phone. I lingered a bit over the text – eventually I hit the 'send' button.

January 2nd, 2005, 11:07 AM **  
Hey Bella, Renée, I am sorry this message comes so late.  
But, I have arrived safe and sound, and am now underway to Forks.  
Do you perhaps have time for a video chat at say, 7:30 PM?**

 _Now Paul is a real estate novelist  
Who never had time for a wife  
And he's talkin' with Davy, who's still in the Navy  
And probably will be for life_

 _And the waitress is practicing politics  
As the businessmen slowly get stoned  
Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness  
But it's better than drinkin' alone_

In my mind I made a note to go out hiking someday soon – that is, if the weather would allow it. The prospect of calming down in the woods after a long and busy day at school was certainly appealing. Clear your mind, with no-one around besides the birds and other small animals.

 _Sing us a song you're the piano man  
Sing us a song tonight  
Well we're all in the mood for a melody  
And you got us feeling alright_

 _It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday  
And the manager gives me a smile  
'Cause he knows that it's me they've been comin' to see  
To forget about life for a while  
And the piano, it sounds like a carnival  
And the microphone smells like a beer  
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar  
And say, "Man, what are you doin' here?"_

 _Oh, la la la, di da da  
La la, di da da da dum_

 _Sing us a song you're the piano man  
Sing us a song tonight  
Well we're all in the mood for a melody  
And you got us feeling alright_

"Last stop: Transit Center Forks," the bus driver announced too soon, which was after little less than two hours. The forest made place for a small town. We went over what seemed like the main street, and on the left, if you watched at the right time, you could catch a glimpse of the local high school. Next month I'd be attending. There was one big advantage however: it was much smaller than the high school in Phoenix.  
My train of thought was interrupted when the bus parked, and my headphones were stuffed back in the backpack.  
"Have a nice day, miss," the bus driver said to me when I made my way to the door.  
"Thank you, and same to you. Be safe!" I told him with a smile, and took out an umbrella before stepping out in the rain. Yes, I'd taken precautions back in Phoenix.

I sighed deeply and looked around. Forks, Washington. Here I was again. Earlier this year – no, last year, it was 2005 already - I'd been here already one time to see the house. Now I only needed to get there. It was some miles south of Forks, in the middle of the woods. By car it would take around 20 minutes, but which car? I'd made a deal with one Weber, he had recently bought a new(er) car and was now selling his old Mustang. Now, where did he live again? However unpleasant it seemed to have to wander through Forks in a jacket (I did have to dig through my suitcase after all) in the pouring rain, standing on a parking lot in a jacket in the pouring rain was probably even worse. _Let's get walking, Ave._ At least it would give me some time to get to know the town.

In the end I got to know more of Forks than I had initially taken into account. Somehow I ended up crossing the same road three times. The fourth time I decided to cover my jet black hair and face to hide my embarrassment. Around the big cities like Phoenix I could find things in no-time, but this small town was my weakness. For a town named after cutlery it wasn't as simple as it sounded.  
Eventually– _fortunately_ \- I bumped into a familiar face.  
"Oh, have you lost your way, miss?" The old man from the bus resorted his fisherman's hat, unlike me he didn't have an umbrella, only a long, heavy coat.  
"As a matter of fact I have, it seems. I am looking for the home of Mr. Weber, do you happen to know where he lives?"  
The man rubbed his white moustache and snorted lightly, but without disrespect. "I assume you then must be the southerner who bought his mustang placement, eh?"  
"That is me, I fancy."  
"Well then, I suppose I could walk you there," he offered, "It's only a few blocks away."  
"That'd be wonderful, thank you. But only if it isn't too much trouble."  
The man shrugged, drops of water rolled down his shoulders. "I wanted to pay him a visit soon anyway. Might as well do it now. This way, miss..?"  
"Lewis. Avery Lewis."  
He extended a wrinkled, callous hand from one of the deep pockets of his coat, which I shook.  
"Owen Hudson."  
He then motioned for me to follow, and I began walking next to him. Behind me the suitcase rumble and every now and then splashed as it rolled through a puddle – fingers crossed that it was waterproof. I silently had offered Mr. Hudson to walk with me under the umbrella, but he politely declined. "No, my coat and good old hat have never let me down, and they won't now."  
"I see. I myself prefer a hood, but a coat might be a good investment." A short silence. "Tell me, do you live here in Forks?" Where I had turned left we now went right, quite literally.

Humble pride filled Mr. Hudson's voice when he spoke: "Yes miss, born and raised here. Was born in the same street I now live in. This is a close community, and people like me seldom leave." He cleared his throat. "Now you tell me, why is it that you have decided to come to live here? As much as Forks is unique in its own way, I wouldn't say it is the most attractive place to move to. Especially for a young lady like you."

The corners of my lips curled slightly upward. "Why, this is a close-knit community indeed. It would not surprise me the entire town knew about our arrival," I mused.  
"Our?" Then his frown turned into a knowing look. "Oh, you mean Charlie Swan's daughter?"  
"One and the same."

I did not continue the conversation for it seemed we had arrived at our destination.  
The house had been built with blue wood and white decorations. Rectangular windows provided plenty of sunlight, and there were three of them on each side of the door, which was in the middle. As far as we could see the building was also shaped like a rectangle, with a Jerkinhead roof covered with black slate tiles. It had only a small front yard, but from the outside it appeared common, and cosy.

Instead of ringing the doorbell like any other individual, Mr. Hudson walked up to the door and knocked loudly.  
For a long while nothing happened. A part of me suggested that there might be no-one at home, but the opening of the door ended my doubt.  
"Good afternoon Reg, how are you doing?"  
Dumbfoundedly, 'Reg' looked from the man in front of him to me and back again. He was a middle age man, with short brown hair and glasses. He looked like he had just rose from his bed, or hadn't had enough sleep last night.  
He sort of mumbled a response, still trying to comprehend the situation: "Good, good. We're all doing fine."  
Rain was still pouring down at my umbrella and Mr. Hudson's hat. At length Reg seemed to realize that. "Ah yes, would you like to come inside?"  
Mr. Hudson smiled amusedly. "That sounds like a plan. However, The main reason why I came here is to show this young lady the way."  
With one hand he motioned for me to come closer. I had been standing at a polite distance with umbrella, luggage and all, and now left the latter behind as I approached Reg and extended a hand.  
"It is a pleasure to meet you in person, Mr. Weber."  
For a moment he frowned, but then realised something and shook my hand eagerly. "Of course, of course. Lewis, isn't it? Pleasure is all mine."

Mr. 'my friends call me Reg' Weber turned out to be kind man, with not too much knowledge about vehicles. Luckily the purchase had been made over the telephone, and it was running effortlessly and all, so good enough for me. Mr. Weber appeared to be in a kind of hurry - or at least he claimed he was, because strangely enough he _did_ have time to invite Mr. Hudson in – so he handed me the keys fairly quick, and I was left on my own outside. In the rain, with one suitcase, a black backpack and an umbrella, while the wind blew through my bangs and clothing. Windproof jacket? Nope. Not the slightest.  
Mr. Hudson turned to me with an apologising gesture when Mr. Weber had returned inside. "Reg is very fond of this car-" he patted the hood of the grey car, "-his wife sold it in his place. Hence he doesn't like you much, but he's a good fellow, you'll see once you get to know him."  
"Ah. Well, I cannot blame him for his logical bias, now can I?"  
He chuckled, and from the house a voice carried to where we were standing: "Owen, would you like a coffee?"  
"In a minute, Reg," he replied, and turned back to me.  
"Before I make my leave I wish to thank you for your kindness, Mr. Hudson. Without your help I'd still be wandering on the streets," I told him, and fiddled with the car keys.  
"It was my pleasure, milady." He would've taken off his hat had it not been raining. "Call me if you need something – anything."  
"I will." There was a short awkward moment, then he walked back to the front door and I got in the car, after I'd dumped my belongings on the back seat and the soaked umbrella somewhere it wouldn't cause any harm to the interior. Mr. Hudson waved when I left, and then went out of sight as I rounded a corner.

The moment I left Forks I breathed a sigh of relief. _Stupid, Avery, stupid! No making friends, you promised yourself! Don't be so careless with your heart, you don't want a repetition of-_ _No more of this, I_ interrupted myself when the familiar mixture of.. certain feelings began to surface. Guilt, regret, fear…  
 _Focus on something different. Will the movers have done their job properly? What will Bella think of this car? It surely is a beauty despite its old age. The steering wheel feels smooth, I can totally see myself driving it for the next few years.  
_ _Until Bella goes to college and you have to move again, you mean._

Mentally I flinched. _  
Nope, that path is also forbidden._ The exaggeratedly positive voice replied. _How about this; the house doesn't have a garage, you should make some space to park the car. The former owners of the house didn't have one, so I might have to do something about the ground, don't want to get stuck in the mud after a rainstorm like this…_  
My mind shifted to the question what soil type the Olympic Peninsula had – sand and mud probably?

Slowly but steadily the unsettling emotions dissipated as I tried to distract myself by planning ahead and noting birds and trees that sprang out from the scenery.  
But even now the positive side had won, the feelings and memories lingered in the subconscious, ever-present, awaiting the right time to strike back with full force…


	3. High School

When Bella arrived at the 16th of January it was drizzling. Not feeling much for getting soaked I was sitting in Chief Swan's cruiser. I had come across him several times the past week while buying supplies and materials in the few shops Forks had, and he had always been polite and slightly awkward, but curious as to how Bella was doing. I of course offered him some information concerning his daughter's and ex-wife's being; I was sorry to see he hadn't yet let go of his former marriage.  
On our last encounter he had offered me a lift to the airport. I had asked how he knew I was planning on meeting Bella there, but apparently said person had sent him a mail in which she'd explained the matter.

Chief Swan wasn't what you would call verbose, so it had been a silent ride – not that I minded though, it meant that I could concentrate on other things.  
Right now he had gone to wait for the plane to hit the ground, in the rain. The flight was a bit late – either that, or Bella had broken a leg descending the stairs. That wouldn't surprise me the slightest bit. The heater had been turned on so as to drive away the cold and damp. I was sitting in the back, hands under my knees, watching two raindrops roll down the window and become one near the bottom.  
Contrary to earlier expectations, the act of enrolling in the local high school had been fluent. Some subject needed some catching up whereas others I was ahead on: especially the beta-subjects needed some extra attention. The relationship between myself and the other students was more or less the same as it had been in Phoenix – they left me alone, I didn't bother them, and sometimes they didn't even notice me passing. I found it positive, because that meant that I wasn't the rumour of the school (I very much hoped so at least).

Ten minutes later Bella and her father appeared through the doors of the simplistic square building. Both walking on two legs, that was a good sign.  
I quickly got out of the car to greet them. Her father had taken one of her bags, and by the sheepish smiles I could tell the conversation between them was beyond awkward, if there was any interaction at all.

"Hey Bella! It is great to see you at last," I cut in, pulling the brunette in a light embrace. "How was the flight?"  
The brown eyes lighted up with gladness, and a genuine grin broke through.  
"It was ok, I guess. It's good to see you too." When we pulled back she remembered whom she was with, and looked sideways at her father who was placing the suitcases in the trunk of the cruiser. They fit easily.  
"So the two of you already met?"  
I nodded in confirmation. "Hm-hmm. Forks is a small town."  
At the sound of that her face fell.  
"Unfortunately."

After we'd buckled up and were driving away from the airport Chief Sw- Charlie announced he had found a good car for Bella to use to drive to and from school.  
"What kind of car?" she asked carefully.  
"Well, it's a truck actually, a Chevy."  
"Where did you find it?"  
Then there was a whole conversation about one Billy Black, the age of the car and it's price. I only listened partially, not feeling inclined to take part. Instead I listened to the rumbling of the engine and watched the scenery on the other side of the road.  
After some while we made it back to the white, two-story house that made up the Swan's residence. The exterior was made of white wood placed horizontally, and a black roof. The front door was right in the middle with grey stone stairs leading up to it. On either side and above there were several smaller windows, left of the door a bay window, and on the left side of the house there was a second stair to what I guessed was the backdoor.

In front of it were parked a grey Mustang (mine) and a reddish Chevrolet truck (Bella's). I kind of disliked the truck because of the prominent iron front part, that looked like it could ram through an entire herd of beef cows and still come out undamaged.

"Wow dad, I love it! Thanks!" Contrary to what one might expect this wasn't sarcasm, she sounded genuinely pleased with the present.  
We got out of the cruiser, and I stood by Bella as she admired her own red car.

"I think I will leave now, give you some time to settle," I spoke up, having seen Charlie carrying the suitcases along to the front door and waiting there expectantly.  
"I'll pick you up for school tomorrow so that I can show you the way to my place, is that alright?"

She nodded, still gawking, and I doubted she'd remember it.  
The gravel crunched underneath my shoes as I walked to my car and got inside.  
Bella had just decided to move inside as I drove it out of there, and a sudden urge to depart as quickly as possible rose.  
A feeling of imminent danger.  
The emotion didn't match the environment, or actually I might not have expected it here. Through the rear mirror I thought I spotted something moving in the forest - but it might well have been a forest animal, or my imagination. Despite the realism my mind wouldn't let it go, and that was all the more clear when I went to sleep that night.  
Or rather the lack of sleep.

* * *

The next morning started out foggy and wet; the latter being unsurprising. I parked early in the morning in front of the Swan's residence. Chief Swan's cruiser was absent, meaning he'd gone to work early. Sighing deeply, I rested my forehead against the cold steering wheel and closed my eyes – the nightly event had worn me out terribly, and the nagging anxiety in the back of my mind wasn't helpful either. First a nightmare, which left me screaming in bed, then insomnia kicked in because of the adrenaline.  
And now another day of school. Oh joy. The more I thought about having to socialize with them strangers, the more reluctant I felt to go. Frankly, I'd rather spend a whole month working on my new house and the garden around it than this. Last week had been… alright, I guess, but no. No people person.  
Sitting up straight, I ran a hand through my bangs (which as a result became static and clung to my forehead). _Just keep swimming, just keep swimming,_ I mentally sang, _just keep swimming, swimming, swimming.._  
At times like these I was so glad people couldn't read minds. It would be plainly humiliating.

The sound of a closing door pulled me out of my mantra. A black jacket with brown hair flowing over it had exited the house it was now locking up. Unless Chief Swan had grown an immense amount of hair overnight as well as feminine features – which I highly doubted – this was Bella being early. The keys were being placed under the eaves by the door.  
She turned around (surprise, it was indeed her), and jumped six feet in the air at the sight of my car. Was a Ford that terrifying?  
With a hand to her chest she came closer, after having caught her breath, and I opened the passenger's door from the inside.

"Are you aware how little effort it would take a burglar to break into your home?"  
Bella frowned. "No offence, but what are you doing here?"  
"Get it," I commanded, and she abided by it. "You're getting a tour around my place after school, remember?"  
Bella's cheeks flustered. "Oh, right."  
We both fastened our seatbelts, and I threw Bella's backpack on the back seats, next to mine. Gently, of course.  
"And now to school… Just imagine," I tried to cheer her up, "people might actually start to call us the pale Phoenix twins if we don't get up and face them."  
A small smile broke through on Bella's face at the thought. "I doubt they'd mistake us for twins. Beside the appearance there's an obvious difference in grace."  
"Too bad PhysEd is mandatory in all four years here."  
She immediately grew gloomy. She covered her face with her hands and groaned. "Ugh. Now you're just rubbing it in."  
"Stop worrying about it! There's a big chance that they will place you in the same classes as me. Do you wish to bet?"  
"You could just say wanna bet, Ave. Wanna." Bella automatically corrected me. Slang wasn't something that I picked up easily.  
"Fine - _wanna_ bet?"  
There was a mischievous glint in her eyes when she spoke up: "What about, if we're in four or less hours together, you get to drive us to school for two weeks."  
"Three or less," was the counteroffer. "Take it or leave it."  
"You've got yourself a deal."

The entire two miles my company had kept silent, growing paler with every minute.  
"How are your nerves?"  
She swallowed hard as she stared out of the window. Her heart was beating like mad. "I'm afraid they didn't make it."  
"If you have to throw up, warn me beforehand will you?" This was a serious request – one time, just before sports day began (her personal Hell) she'd vomited right on the spot. The upside of it was that she didn't have to participate after that.

I remembered my first week vividly, and it hadn't been optimal either.

 **~Le Flashback~**

 _The atmosphere around the house had changed since my last visit. The green of the surrounding nature had lessened, and the ground had become a dark brown, sloppy mass.  
When I opened the door the chilliness surprised me, even though it shouldn't. First task, turn up the heat. The house had one of those manual thermostat thingies, and I immediately set it to 60°F. Next I placed my humid coat over the heater and the umbrella and suitcase next to it. That would dry after a while. _

_Well, there I stood, with an immense task beforehand. You never know how much possessions you have until you move. All of the furniture had been replaced by dozens of boxes. The living room-and-kitchen-in-one only needed some cleaning before the furniture could be installed, so that would probably be the best thing to do first._

 _The walls had been painted in a light shade of blue, which complimented the wooden beams and floor. There were two large windows on the left side of the room, where a couch would come to stand from where you could enjoy the view outside. In the middle of the room there was a corridor with four doors, one of which lead to the veranda on the back side of the house. The doors left were those of the bathroom and the boiler, and the one on the right gave entrance to the only bedroom. Opposite of the windows was a small kitchen, and there would come a semi-circular table in front with two chairs around.  
The room itself was probably not more than 25 feet long and 15 feet wide, corridor, bathroom and bedroom excluded of course._

 _But for now, in which box had I left the cleaning supplies again? I knew it had the label 'kitchen', so that left only four boxes to look through. Oh joy. But luck was on my side, because the very first box I opened was the right one. After that it didn't take long before the kitchen had a lavender odour. That was one of the advantages of having a small kitchen: there is less cleaning to do. The previous inhabitants had also cleaned before leaving, which made everything a whole lot easier._

 _Now the boxes… I needed to move them in order to get the room clean and liveable before midnight. I attempted to lift one of the carton ones, with a hand on either side. Turned out they weren't as heavy at all. In no-time they had all been moved to the bedroom, revealing a larger space than it might've appeared.  
A vacuum-cleaner and mop over the floor, a sweep over the window sills and tadaa, the room was habitable. _

_Move the furniture in, and there you've got yourself a kitchen and a living room._

 _From the deep depth of the filled bedroom I got myself some blankets and pillows, and created a warm sleeping spot on the beige couch. My bed for the coming week or two. I didn't mind the slightest to sleep on the couch, no, it was exciting to do something different than normally. And with some decorating candles or photographs or whatever it would be even cosier than now. And curtains, that had to be added to the shopping list._

 _I must agree, this all sounds boring and like little less than an hour had passed, but everyone who has moved once will probably agree with me that a) there isn't much to be said, except moving this, installing that, etc. and b) it always takes longer than you expect. By now it was around 6:30 PM, dinner time.  
Chips, I should've remembered to buy myself dinner, I realised, sitting on the couch and staring at the small dining table. On Sundays the shops were closed, so that left me with only a few leftovers from what I'd taken with me – muesli bars and an apple. Well, it would suffice for now. _

_I took a small bite from the apple and laid back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling._

 _Forks was very much different from Phoenix, that was certain. And this bungalow, it had a pleasant atmosphere, but it was different nevertheless. A part of me missed the small apartment with the balcony, the orchids on the coffee table, the black and white tiles in the bathroom. True, the orchids and coffee table were here, but it was still not the same.  
Oh well… I figured I would get used to it soon. _

_In between the sea of green, just off the highway, a collection of maroon buildings appeared. The only indications that they belonged together were the big parking lot and the sign that read: 'Forks High School'. It differed a lot from the public high school in Phoenix, which had more of an institution-like exterior._

 _"_ _I think that's where I have to be," I mused at the sight of the first building, with FRONT OFFICE on it. There was a smaller lot in front, probably off-limits.  
_ 'I'm not certain if I'm allowed to park here, but I am kind of early… Oh well, I'll park in the right lot after this _,' I decided, and parked the car on a random spot.  
The sudden silence only increased the heavy feeling. First day of school, great. I had only one goal for the next weeks, and that was to not stand out. Wish me luck._

 _I clambered out of the car, leaving my bag inside. The car was locked anyway. There weren't any students yet, which was a good sign I supposed._

 _When I entered the front office I was met by a pleasant warmth.  
My overall impression of the small room was that it was rather cosy. Folding seats formed a waiting area, the walls were covered with all sorts of pictures and awards, and an old clock ticked the time away.  
Behind a long counter that split the room in two there was a red-haired, bespectacled woman, who looked like the maternal figure of the school, proud of all her little students. She was dressed in a mere T-shirt, as opposed to the sweater I was wearing underneath a loose jacket. Whoops.  
"Can I help you?" she asked, looking up from a neatly stacked pile of paperwork that yet needed to be done.  
"Good morning," I responded, "My name is Avery Lewis. I've been told to-"  
"Of course," she cut me off, and began digging through a different pile until she found several sheets. Obviously the name rang a bell, not a good sign.  
"Here is your schedule, and a map of the school." She then gave a thorough description of every building, the different teachers, the best routes to each building, and in addition handed me a slip of paper where I had to gather a sign of every teacher I had a lesson from today.  
"Thank you for the information," I told her, and flashed a polite smile at her. She merely nodded.  
"You're welcome dear."_

 _Once outside I suddenly spotted a line of students in their cars, trying to find a spot on a separate parking lot. And that rhymed. The average car was as old, maybe even older than my Mustang – even a Volvo stood out.  
For some reason the other students never noticed my presence – not yet, at least. But I intended to keep it that way._

 _There wasn't much to be told about that day._

 _The first hour was fine. With chemistry we had lab partners, mine was a brown-haired girl who had no skills in the lab – some fellow students muttered something like 'hope she doesn't blow stuff up again'. I did not see the source of their concern. Her name was Jessica, and she was a tad clumsy, yes, but not inapt.  
Before long the bell rang, a monotonous buzzing sound, and I gathered my belongings to head towards building six. _

_I was one of the first to arrive at government, thank goodness, but had been assigned a seat close to the teacher, Mr. Jefferson. Bugger. Iconic name, by the way. Government also went by quickly as the teacher droned on, though I hadn't picked up much from what he was saying._

 _Trigonometry was a completely different story. Mr. Varner demanded I would stand in the front and introduce myself. I'd been through the horrific experience before, and it was just as awful as always._

 _After gym the lunch hour started. Worst part of the day. Just like I'd always done I evaded the cafeteria, and instead sat outside reading a book. It hadn't yet rained today, luckily, but not even the ominous clouds in the distance could keep me from sitting on the stone tiles with my back to the wall, out of everyone's sight. Until I had memorised the layout of the school, this was where I would be compelled to spend an hour per day here_.

 _Ancient Greek went past in a blur, and soon the last subject of the day began - geography. Mr. Lowe, a balding man around his fifties, he allowed me to sit wherever I liked. Next to the window there were two empty seats next to each other, so my choice was obvious.  
Geography had always been a rather easy subject. Especially now we were studying endogenic and exogenic processes, so it wasn't hard to catch up._

 _At the end of the day I handed back the slip of paper to Mrs. Cope – the Front Office lady.  
"How was your first day at school?" she asked, kindly.  
I shrugged. "I suppose it was good, but there might be needed some more time to adjust."  
She nodded sympathetically (Please don't) and waved to the door. "You're free to go. You can always drop by if you have a question, you know that?"  
"Thank you, I will." That was a lie._

 **~End of Le Flashback~**

We arrived early at school, and so I was able to find myself one of the better parking spots.  
Basically Front Office was a repetition of my first day, but my friend could only stare at the many plants wearily.  
We thanked the lady and got back into my car as fast as possible, to wait for the other students.  
"That was great. Let me see your schedule," Bella demanded.  
After a while Bella handed me the schedule back with a nauseous grin.  
"I win. Now I don't know if I should be triumphant or horrified," she added with a grimace. "We only have trigonometry and government together."  
"But your first subject is English," I opposed, "and that's usually a piece of cake. Do you want to trade – I have chemistry." She wasn't in the mood, clearly.  
She sighed, and after a long silence began to move again. "Well, now is as good as a time as ever."  
It had begun to rain cats and dogs, and armed with raincoats we followed two unisex raincoats to the lockers, from where we parted. Me to chemistry, Bella to English.

None of the students bothered to talk to me. Some even stopped speaking when I passed. I wasn't looking hostile, was I? They had been doing this for the entire week already, and that was rather unnerving for some reason. On the bright side, they left me be.

Jessica from chemistry had decided to fill the silence that sometimes fell in our conversations with continuous chatter, and the only thing I needed do was nod and say "Indeed" and "Probably" every once in a while.

When Bella arrived several minutes later than me at Government she was talking with.. a boy?  
"Who was that?" I therefore asked as soon as she sat down next to me.  
"His name is Eric, I believe. Overly helpful chess club type," she muttered under her breath.  
"Ah. Some pain in the neck they are." A shortage of sleep definitely did increase the frequency of sarcasm.  
She snorted. "You just sounded like my grandmother."

We left the matter of Eric for what it was, and instead I asked the question that bothered me slightly more than a possible follower: "Do I look scary or something? Where you attract people they seem to evade me."  
She leant back and studied me with a critical eye. "I can't say," was the outcome, "your bangs have grown too long, perhaps? It gives you a bit of a seclusive aura…"  
We shrugged synchronically, then both laughed about that. Nearly the entire classroom turned to look at us incredulously.

Trigonometry was horrible. Like me last week Bella was called to the front by Mr. Varner to introduce herself: she turned tomato red and began to stutter. And as if 20 pairs of staring eyes wasn't unnerving enough for her, she also tripped and nearly took me down with her.

After gym, assisted by a dark girl with unruly brown curls in the extreme, I made it to the cafeteria – I hadn't yet been there, having spent this hour elsewhere instead, but for Bella's sake…  
I opted for only a bottle of water for lunch in order to skip the line.

Bella was quickly spotted: she had joined several other people at a full table, I noticed – a bespectacled brunette and a corn silk blonde whom I had geography with, Jessica from Chemistry and Trigonometry, chess club type (what on earth?!) and another blond.  
And she had been afraid she'd stand out?  
Getting a heavy feeling by only thinking of joining them without invitation, I steered to an empty table in the back.  
A headache was coming up, making me only more annoyed than before. Now that hostile impression was very, very welcome. The warmth of the cafeteria made me want to lay down on the cool table. However this would probably come across as peculiar, so instead I sipped at the cold water and held my eyes fixed on the table. Silently I listened to the different conversations in the room, especially those at Bella's table. Not eavesdropping, just.. paying attention.

"Who are they?" she suddenly piped up. Jessica giggled before answering: "That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one who just left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife."  
Curiosity led me to look who they meant, though it wasn't hard to see. Four people were sitting apart from the others, and they clearly stood out. The first boy had bronze hair, and indifferently looked up at Bella's group as if someone had called his name but had meant a namesake, and he'd involuntarily responded to it. The second was brawny, and at a shortage of words, a bear of a guy. No really, in a match between him and a bear I wouldn't take bets. The third, a blonde girl, was the impossibly perfect type. The photoshopped girls on a magazine cover were incomparable to her. The fourth boy was muscular, though not as much as the bear-like person, and honey blond.  
There were several things they had in common – first, their clothing was all designer type. Not obvious, but still too good to be second hand. Next, and that probably made them stand out most, was the paleness of their skin and the colour of their eyes: butterscotch/amber. They were all staring at their plates, outside or at a wall, as if in deep thought, and had dark shadows under their eyes (probably because of a lack of sleep). In other words, they were different. But who cares, this was high school, everyone stood out in some way. And I didn't really have the right to judge.

The pounding in the back of my head grew more painful because of the constant stream of chatter. My wariness certainly spiked, because of… well, I'd figure that out later, I was a little occupied at the moment.  
The urge to leave the cafeteria now grew with every second that passed by, whether that was because of the Cullen's or the continuous buzzing I did not know, the headache made it hard to think about anything but the cruel pounding in my head.  
 _One… Two… Three… Four…_ I counted along with the heartbeat that terrorised my brain. _Five… Six… Seven… Still… Three… Quarters… To… Go…  
Nope I'm done.  
_Only a quarter after I'd entered the cafeteria I left again, carrying the partly finished bottle of water along.

The next three quarters I did nothing more than hide in the girl's bathroom, waiting for the bell to ring – and finally, _finally_ it did. The headache had diminished a little, fortunately. With a feeling of relief and annoyance I made my way to building two, where I had Ancient Greek with Mr. Howard. And oh joy, chess club was there too.

At the end of the day I gathered my belongings and went to front office, where to my surprise Bella was already standing in front of, talking with that blond boy from earlier. As soon as she spotted me she cut off the conversation.  
"Oh, sorry Mike, I have to go. Hi Ave!" She approached me faux-cheerful, so as to make this Mike understand that he should leave.  
"How was your day?" I went along, "No wait- don't tell me yet. Don't spoil the surprise. First front office." There was a hint of sarcasm in my voice as a result of a bad mood, but she appeared to understand and we walked together to front office. In the meanwhile I tried to get the car keys out of my bag and not let the cold wind get the better of the papers.

When we entered the building however we both froze in out spots. There in front of us was the bronze-haired boy from lunch hour. He was discussing something with the receptionist, unaware of us entering. He was discussing his change from Biology II the sixth hour to another class. I remembered Bella having the same subject at the same hour, so they must be classmates, then.  
His back stiffened, and he turned to look at us – Bella, more specifically – with one of the foulest glares I'd encountered so far. If looks could kill, Bella would long have been six feet under.  
As far as I knew neither of us had offended him in any way, and I highly doubted that shy Bella would be capable of annoying someone this much within an hour, unless she'd accidentally stepped on his foot or something.

"Anyhow," he hastily ended the discussion, "I think I will ask my sister for further help, thank you so much." Without waiting for the receptionist's response he disappeared through the door.  
I almost felt sorry for Bella for having someone like him in the same class.

After Bella had handed over the slip of paper we hurried to my car before the now pouring rain would soak us. From the moment we had entered front office her face had grown somber, and now that we were strapping in she was on the verge of crying. Her rich brown eyes were moist from the tears she was trying to hold back.  
"What's the matter? Was gym that bad?"  
She shook her head. "Not here, please," she whispered, referring to the students who lingered around the cars.  
I understood, and drove us out of there as fast as the speed limit allowed.

 ***3** **rd** **person p.o.v.***

"What do you think? It's beautiful, isn't it?" the black-haired girl commented from the other side of the bed. "The environment I mean."  
Bella threw another shirt in the wardrobe, which Avery then picked up and folded neatly before placing it back. They were in Bella's room, since Avery had decided that it would be best to leave the surprise – her house – for tomorrow, regarding the emotional state Bella had been in when they left school. Bella had omitted to unpack her suitcases yesterday, so that was exactly what they were doing now.  
"Says the newcomer to the native," the brunette mumbled.  
Avery's lips parted in a laugh, revealing sharp canine teeth. Not abnormally, but Avril Lavigne kind of sharp. "True. But then again, I've already been here for more than two weeks." She stood out from the people present in the house; she had straight black hair, a more oval-shaped face, and was also slightly shorter than Bella. Sometimes Bella would use the height difference to tease her, by childishly holding things above her head.

A short silence followed, and her face fell. "You really dislike this situation, don't you?"  
For a moment Bella considered lying. "I don't _hate_ it.. I think. It's just not like home." She opened the second suitcase. "It's too wet. Too green. And every day I'll have to talk to _him,_ " she motioned to the door, "which is plainly awkward. I mean, I love him and all, but it's.. ugh. He's never gotten over my mom, which only makes this more uncomfortable. And tomorrow.."  
She stopped unpacking and used both hands to pull back her hair in a frustrated motion.  
"Tomorrow I'll be making a fool out of myself in front of everyone again. The newbie, the specialty from the South. Daughter of the Chief's flighty ex-wife, come home at last. I don't even know these people, and it only takes one day for them to know my entire history! Oh, and all those stereotype based questions they asked! _Why aren't you tan like all people from the South?_ Because my genetics decided I was meant to be the part albino. _But you must be good at beach volleyball, right?_ Wrong. Unless you want to get hit K.O. by the ball and lose, don't put me on the field. _What's the weather like in Phoenix?_ Dry, hot and sunny, people! The exact opposite of this. Don't they have books here to, oh I don't know, look it up? Speaking about books, there isn't a single decent book store within a ten mile range. That means I'll have to go all the way to Port Angeles in order to get myself a new book."

All the while Avery listened patiently to her rantings, nodding understandingly every once in a while. The brunette flopped down on the bed in between them and sighed deeply.  
"I just don't know how long I'll be able to stand it."

The green-eyed girl abandoned her work and sat down next to her friend, and began stroking her chocolate brown hair. "Now there, don't worry so much. I'm new here too, so that makes the two of us. Furthermore, there's a local library with a decent amount of books – not much, but enough to fill time. About Charlie, well, I'm certain he will open up to you more in a matter of time. From what I've heard this parenting situation is quite new for him, so don't be too harsh in judgement. In the time that you were in Phoenix things have changed here as well, so maybe it's a good idea to make the first step yourself. Ask about his hobbies, visit some of your friends from former times."  
"Maybe," Bella muttered, still looking downcast. Avery sighed knowingly.  
"That boy from front office, he is bothering you, isn't he?"  
She visibly stiffened.  
"Will you tell me what happened?"  
It was silent for a moment, and Bella's face was a mixture of sadness and fuming anger.  
"Nothing happened," she eventually broke the silence, "I just had to sit next to him in Biology, and then he just became mad for no obvious reason! He was looking at me like I was the foulest creature on earth, or had insulted him or something. And now he's changed classes, because of me!" By now she was nearly crying. "And I still don't know what I've done wrong."  
"Maybe he isn't a people person."  
"Maybe." She didn't sound convinced.  
"Or hormones – unpredictable mood swings, random outbursts of uncontrolled anger.."  
"You think that was it?"  
"Could well be. Unless you dropped your books on him he doesn't have a reason to behave this way. You'll see he'll have come around by tomorrow."

"It doesn't matter," she slowly agreed. "He's not in one of my classes anymore – only during lunch hour I'll be seeing him."  
"That's right. Besides, you can always spend the fifth hour with me in the music room, like we used to," the other added. "And you have a group of friends already, I'm certain they'll be on your side in the matter."

The outcome of said _matter_ however went different that either of them had anticipated.


	4. Changes

**A/N: Hello dear followers and occasional readers! I am really thrilled to see that people actually like this story so far, and I enjoy writing it. Constructive criticism and ideas and tips and everything is very welcome, I'd love to know how you guys think about it!**

The next day was roughly the same, and yet completely different. The equal parts were that I picked up Bella, who this time determined to spend the day how we planned it since we hadn't had the chance to yet. I myself would not mind waiting another week or so if necessary, we had more than enough time after all. The year had only just begun.

At school chemistry went by without any accidents (if you don't count some burnt fingers).  
Next were government and trigonometry, in which Bella and I updated each other. Yes, friendly Mike was still friendly. Chess club Eric was still clingy.  
I believed I was the witness of a routine forming.

During gym Dominique and I paired up. She was the dark girl who had shown me the way to the cafeteria last week. As it turned out, she was in the same geography class as well. We were playing four-player volleyball rallies, and _boy_ my teammate was competitive. She would be running around the field, encouraging everyone to get up and play. Most rallies we lost in the end, but that did not demotivate her in the slightest. After all, _participating is of more importance than winning_. After gym we walked to the cafeteria together, and talked about the weather, which was cloudy and moist as always.

She invited me to go sit with her and her friends, but I politely declined.  
We parted in front of the door. After last week's experience it had seemed better to spend lunch hour in the music room instead, as I had therefore done for the rest of the week. During lunch hour bands sometimes were allowed to practice there, but theoretically it was accessible to everyone.  
From home I'd already taken an apple and a bottle of water, therefore giving myself the opportunity to avoid the major part of the other students. I agree on the fact that lately I had developed a rather unhealthy eating pattern, but that was of later concern.

Music was being taught just down the hallway in a broad, rectangular room. It was painted in a cosy firebrick colour with the regular beige flooring.  
Upon entering, the first thing that one would see on their right would be the side of a large stage, giving off the same impression as the entrance of a cinema. In front would be several tables and chairs pulled together in groups of four. All along the non-stage walls was a long row of tables whereon students could sit and instruments were exhibited. The stage itself was made of black wood and thick, heavy curtains. There were a fixed piano and drums, and now also several guitars as a small group of people was practicing.  
Standing next to or sitting on the tables were five people at most, and with the seven band members that made about twelve people present. In a room of appr. 168 m2 that wasn't much.

Oh, how pathetic I was. Counting people? Honestly?

Barely noticed by them I claimed the corner, where I took out a book and my lunch. Lately I had borrowed the first book of the apparently popular _Harry Potter_ -series, _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_. It wasn't my favourite genre, I concluded, but the world J.K. Rowling created was definitely appealing in some aspects. A bespectacled orphan is denied the simple pleasures in life by his aunt, uncle and cousin, and then receives a strange letter on his 11th birthday, an invitation to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is, in fact, a wizard, like his parents. A whole string of adventures commence concerning both his past and the present. In all honesty, it had started out resembling the majority of books, which were all based on the cliché that the protagonist secretly is something special, often superhuman, and not scarcely without them knowing it. But contrary to those categories, J.K. Rowling had built on from that concept and had conjured a believable, carefully thought-through plot, as well as 3-dimensional main and background characters. Her use of language invited one to vividly imagine the scenes as they enrolled in such a way that it was far from mundane.  
Perhaps I would read the second book in the series. The latter was still ongoing, and it wasn't as if I didn't have the time…

The other difference came with the next hour. With Greek books clutched to my chest I entered building 2, perfectly content about the solution for lunch hour. But that contentment didn't last.

Ancient Greek was a rather unpopular subject. The language was deemed dead and therefore irrelevant. Our class was seven heads strong, Eric and I included. That meant that when there was a new student, they stood out more prominently. In this case, one seat behind the place I'd been assigned to sat the bronze-haired boy.  
My first thought was what he was doing here, but then I remembered the part of the conversation me and Bella had accidentally overheard.  
At least the question as to which class he'd switched to was answered now. He was sitting with his back to the door, skimming the textbook.  
I was not entirely sure if I should be mad at him for his behaviour or not.  
On the other hand, I didn't know the exact details of what had happened between the two of them, and being a friend of Bella's my opinion was likely to be biased.  
I suddenly realised I was still standing in the doorway, and thus began to move forward to the front of the room. I had to admit that I was tense and slightly awkward when I passed and sat down in front of him. Hearing about someone is different than seeing someone in real life, hence the worries. Plus, it didn't help that the subconscious, paranoid little me was imagining all kinds of scenes, as to what could have happened in Biology. Most theories involved Bella tripping.  
Now do not get me wrong – I loved Bella as a friend, but being exactly that I had the right to be realistic. She always teased _me_ with my poor cooking skills.

He casually glanced up from his book, neither hostile nor unkind – indifferent would fit the description better, with a hint of being slightly bored.

For the rest of the lesson nothing special happened. The class with Ancient Greek had a nice atmosphere, we took turns translating a part of Plato's works, one or two sentences each time. The name of bronze-haired boy turned out to be Edward. One thing I did notice was his voice like velvet, and the ease he translated with. But furthermore he wasn't all too different from the other students. Perhaps a little seclusive, yes, but hadn't Bella called me that yesterday also?  
All in all he seemed alright. I didn't talk to him, he didn't talk to me, so I might have to change that first impression a bit.

During geo Dominique joined me. She was a pleasant person to be around, despite her inability to remain still. She showed me the threads she used to keep her fingers busy, crocheting with her fingers instead of hooks was 'her thing' as she called it.

After school I met up with Bella. She was happier than yesterday, though _the matter_ still bothered her to some degree. Unless one of us actually got to speak with _him_ , which I highly doubted any of us three would do voluntarily, we wouldn't know the reason behind his behaviour, and I figured it was fine this way. Bella struggled more to let it go, but she'd have to in the end. That's the way life is, most puzzles don't get solved.

* * *

With two loud thumps Bella and I simultaneously placed down carton boxes on the wooden floor. The first wiped the sweat from her forehead, she'd taken off her jacket so that she was wearing a big-sized sweater. I myself had followed the example of the other students and was wearing a pullover.

The rest of the week had gone by uneventfully, and now weekend had arrived Bella was staying over to help me with moving a part of the boxes and all.  
"How many are there left?"  
I shrugged. "These were the last ones, I believe."  
"Why did you want to move into your own place again?" Bella asked teasingly as she flopped down onto a chair.  
"Because you do not want me in the same house, that's why," I responded, and skidded to the kitchen part. It was in the same room, so not at all far. "Would you like some tea?"  
"You have a soda perhaps?" she half-mumbled, leaning back and looking like she could fall asleep on that chair.  
I nodded, rummaging through one of the higher birch cabinets. Personally I wasn't a soda drinker since it gave me stomach pains like most other foodstuffs, but I was prepared for an emergency like this. "Of course. Here you are."  
The soda was being placed on the table next to poor worn-out Bella, who immediately grabbed it. I myself had lost appetite a while ago, so I stood up and opened one of the larger boxes next to Bella's chair – it contained parts of a white closet.  
"Why does the government even allow you to live on your own?" she mused in between the sips.  
I shrugged, nervousness arising within me. "There is an agreement of some sort between the government and the orphanage I used to live at – I haven't really looked into it."

With one hand I wiped the black strands of hair behind an ear, and I changed the topic: "Are you in for assembling a closet?"  
Bella groaned. "Can't we first rest a bit? Please?"  
"You can rest now, if you wish to."  
"Then I'll feel guilty and help anyway, you know that."  
I poked her shoulder playfully. "Oh come on, I know there's still some energy left in you. We can do this, can't we?"  
"Ugh. You're asking way too much from a sixteen-year-old. Have mercy on me."  
I grinned while I pulled out large pieces of painted wood that, once put together, would make a white closet.  
"By the way, isn't that supposed to be in your room? And didn't you say earlier that that part of the house was already finished?"  
"The bed-part of it is..." I responded in defence. A deep sigh came from beside me, and for some while no other sound was heard except for breathing and a heartbeat. I was still pulling out small planks and stacking them carefully. After some while, just as I got the impression that she had fallen asleep, Bella jumped up from her seat and walked in a quick pace to the front door.  
"Where are you going?" I asked curiously.

"Just wait for it!" she called over her shoulder, and disappeared out of sight. Long I didn't have to wait, for she already returned within two or three minutes. She stumbled inside, the wind slammed the door shut behind her. In her arms were three small.. boxes? She saw my confusion, and grinned.  
"As I said, just wait for it. You'll see how brilliant this mind of mine can be." She placed them on the kitchen counter and began doing all kinds of things with wires. I settled with trying to figure out in which box the screws were again, they were all similarly white (the boxes). Maybe that should've been done differently. Dozens of boxes were scattered across the room– well, dozens was perhaps a bit exaggerated, twenty was more accurate. The living room/kitchen was as good as finished, so it made a perfect temporarily storage room. Or at least, so I'd thought.

The first chords of a song startled me from thought. When I looked up I saw Bella turning up the volume in the kitchen, watching me expectantly. A stereo tower, of course. I should've known that.  
"I thought you weren't into popular songs?" I asked her with a smile, and she shrugged in response.  
"Mom didn't _always_ play classical music."

She joined me, and helped by holding the sides straight up as I got the screws back in place with a screwdriver. There were many things that could be said about my DIY skills, but things like these I knew how to do.  
The music had a certain impact on the house, all of the sudden it didn't seem as foreign and silent anymore. True, I'd been living there for about a month by now, but it would take some time to adjust to the dead silence around the house. No swooshing of cars, no honking, chattering, buzzing, ringing – no nothing. Only the singing of the few birds that hadn't flown to the south, the shuffling of small mammals on the cold forest floor, the creaking of the house, whispering of the leaves and dripping of the rain.

It was moments like these that I cherished most. The steady pitter-patter of the rain outside. The smell of wood. The sky growing darker with the hour as the sun set, making the lit room even cozier. Moments when, quoting Guinan from Star Trek, 'it was like being inside joy. As if joy were something tangible and you could wrap yourself up in it like a blanket.' For a while nothing else mattered, there was no future and no past. Only now. There was only here, and you didn't think about anything else. You wish that this would last forever, then realize life goes on and try to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

In silence we enjoyed Whitney Houston, George Michael, Billy Joel, Queen, Bon Jovi and many, many more artists – some were more appreciated than others. We managed to get pretty far, and halfway through the night most tasks had been finished.

Bella rubbed her eyes, barely able to stay awake after having nearly fallen asleep on the couch multiple times in the past hour. "Hey, I think I'm going to bed, I'm dead tired."  
I rose from the ground with a sheepish smile. My clothes were covered in dust and paint, and my hair was a lost case. Same with Bella. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry I've kept you awake for so long. Come, I'll help you set up everything."  
"Doesn't matter," she mumbled in response. "Where did we leave the spare mattress again?"  
I turned around sharply at that. "No, you're not going to sleep on a mattress. Take my bed."  
"But-"  
"No buts, I insist." Bella's eyes were drooping, she was much too tired to argue. The clock on the wall showed it was a quarter past two. Had it really been that long? She took a deep breath so as to remain somewhat awake, at least awake enough to make it to the bedroom.  
"Come on, let's get you to bed," I suggested with a laugh, nudging her in the right direction.  
"How 'bout you?" she muttered, hardly listening as she stumbled forward.  
"I am going to sleep on the couch myself – I'm not tired yet, probably the sugar is to blame," I lied. Bella didn't notice, and flopped down onto the one-person bed the moment we entered the bedroom. She didn't bother to take off her clothes or brush her teeth or anything, and instead fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

I sighed with a smile lingering on my lips. _Oh Bella._  
In her place I bent down and carefully untied her shoes, then changed her in the shirt and sweatpants that formed her nightwear, and lastly tucked her in.  
For a moment I lingered around her bed. She looked so peaceful, her chocolate brown hair spread out over the white pillow. She was biting her bottom lip, the way she always did in her sleep. That is, until the talking began. She was a sleep-talker, and usually it was just bits of incoherent mumbling, but sometimes it turned to short (and at times rather embarrassing, may I add) sentences. This would happen for an hour once a night at most, and it was both entertaining and uncomfortable, especially when she happened to confess some weird things. I doubted she knew about it.

Just to be clear, I wasn't a stalker. I didn't go over to her house, then get to her room to watch her sleep or something – no, Bella simply used to sleep over at my place every once in a while. Most of the times it was to give Renée and Phil some space, at least, that's what she said. After some time I learned she actually came to breathe one out. Renée was a sweet woman, and Bella loved her with all her heart, but sometimes taking care of her was too much. I was glad that in those times I was able to provide a safe haven, where she could refill her batteries and rest for a bit.

 _Safe,_ a part of my mind snickered. _As if._

In a flash the room changed to a smaller, more crowded one. People were sleeping on thin mats under brown rags, in a cold, wooden shanty. Ages varied from just born to a couple in their late forties. Their clothes were tattered and dusty, their limbs and faces tired and dirty from hard work. Through cracks in the wall faint light from the city entered the room and made the bodies inside barely visible. Outside there was a continuous shouting, barking of dogs and the sound of horseshoes on stone. A door was being slammed shut. Giggles erupted from the adjacent room, where the couple that rented this room spent the night. The wind howled.  
But what drew my attention was in the center of the room, on the same spot as Bella in reality but then captured between the other bodies. A small girl in fetal position, clutching her blanket tightly as a nightmare plagued her. Her long black hair was tied in a messy braid that reached to her waist. Her brown dress was slightly torn near the waist because she was growing too fast. She was 9 years old, that I knew with certainty.  
 _Caroline…_

I quickly shook my head, returning to the present. _No, forget it, forget it all._ My breathing had increased and my heart was pounding at a faster rate. _Don't think about it. Relax_. For my own sanity I exited the room, leaving Bella asleep. Outside the bedroom I rested my back against the closed door, and took several deep breaths to chase away the heavy feeling in my chest.  
After some time I went to sit down on the couch in front of the window, but first turned off the lights.

* * *

The third Monday morning had broken. The sun rose, bright and warm - behind the thick layers of clouds. In reality it turned out to be one of the many cold mornings that month, with the ever present chance of showers. Sitting on the couch near the window I found myself watching the black sky first turn navy, then several shades of dark grey. Twilight set in. It always used to be one of my favourite moments. Between the dark and cold night, mysterious and dangerous, and the day with all its rushes and emotions, there was a short break. The magical moment in which there was neither bad nor good, in which every being was relieved of duty and fate.  
Twilight.  
The only time when day and night touched, and became as one for the slightest of moments. A moment of hope and relief. A moment in which a certain anticipation wells up inside, a longing to see dark being turned into light or vice versa. It was then that my mind was at peace. Birds began to sing. The scent of morning dew started to spread.  
The earth awakened.  
It was then, as I was sitting there gazing at the switch of shifts, that I realized that I was… content. Not entirely happy, that was an impossibility, but the warmth in my chest had replaced the anxious feeling from before. It was the same feeling one got when they were drawing in the warm sunlight, and at the same time listened to their favorite music. It was in between emotions, yet on the positive side. A sense of tranquility.  
The stars slowly began to fade behind the clouds, and made place for lighter shades of blue. Hours had passed, and not a single moment my eyes had strayed from the sky. Bella had not spilled her guts yet, so the house had remained in silence. This serenity I longed to remain in, but time was merciless. Always had been. True, within a day there would be another twilight, but it wouldn't be the same. Things would have changed, the world would have changed before that. That's the result of an ever changing world.  
And I would have changed as well, I just didn't know yet how much.  
Today it lasted one and a half hour, or 104 minutes actually (I counted). So far nothing spectacular had happened, and hopefully it would stay that way. School made up most of the days, I got an A on a geography test (I must add it was an easy one), and the band got increasingly better.

This was also what led to an unwelcome yet expected announcement in the music room on the 17th of February. I was in the middle of writing a paragraph about the pros and cons of a government with the trias politica in their fundamental system. Today the band was practicing several songs of the repertoire of the girls choice prom that would be held in May. At the end of each accomplished song the musicians were rewarded by a string of applause, however the more hits passed the less fullhearted it was, and after a while it ceased altogether. It was then that the lead guitarist took the microphone and called for everyone's attention.  
"Listen up everyone," he began, "from Wednesday the 2nd on - that's in two weeks - the music room is closed during this hour-" A groan spread through the room. "-because the school orchestra and choir have to practice for an upcoming event, and they'll need all the room they can get. Sorry people," he added with an apologetic gesture. A dismayed muttering buzzed through the audience, and my hand paused, pen hovering above the paper. It was slightly disappointing, for this music room had been the perfect solution to evade the cafeteria. An anxious feeling settled in my stomach at the prospect of having to mingle in the crowd – as one might've noticed, I did not enjoy being in dense areas. It had been less than a minute ago that the announcement had been made and my mind was already persistently making up worst-case scenarios. In Phoenix this hadn't been as much of a problem – sure, it held a 1000+ students, but then again, the school itself was also ten times as big. And since it scarcely ever rained in Phoenix 80% of the people would eat outside on campus, leaving more than enough empty rooms for introverted people like me to seek refuge in. Why then the cafeteria of this high school with 358 people in the small town of Forks was so crowded was beyond me.  
On the other hand, I mused as the band began to play Toxic by Britney Spears (the least original song I'd heard so far), I had paid little attention to the present people on that fateful first day, therefore it might be less bad than I was convinced.  
Oh well, this had been nice for as long as it had lasted. It was still a week until I would be faced with this problem again, and it would then be decided what I was going to do.  
This realization settled my nerves somewhat, and when soon after the bell rang I gathered my books and with a lighter heart I moved on to my next subject.

* * *

"For this assignment you'll have to split up in groups of two," Mr. Howard announced during Greek, and my blood froze. _Split.. Up?_ "Together you're going to translate at least one complete tragedy which I'll assign to you. Then at the end of the semester you're going to present it to your classmates. We will spend only one hour per week on this practical assignment, so a part will have to be done outside school hours. Any questions?" The class remained silent. "Good. Now, Samantha and Megan, you two form a group – here is the Antigone. Eric and Andrew, the Oresteia – yes you can go sit together." He began to hand out thick packets of paper. "Nicole and Rebecca, you get Iphigeneia in Aulis." At last he arrived at my table. "And Edward and Avery, you'll do the Medeia."

A nervous feeling settled in my gut – this always happened whenever I was being forced to engage in social activities with strangers. _Take a breath, don't overreact,_ I chided myself. The teacher handed me the pile and I had no choice but to stand up and move to one row further to the back. Slowly, in one hand the papers, the fingers of the other hand slid across the cold surface of the table. Heart beating fast, eyes fixed on the ground. It was too short a distance to properly calm down, but I would manage. _Drama queen._ It would be awkward, but that would be the end of it.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" I asked out of politeness. Amber eyes met mine with a hint of curiosity.

"No, go ahead," he replied with a voice like velvet, and removed his belonging from that part of the table.

"Thank you. I'm Avery, by the way," I added as I pulled back the chair and sat down, feeling compelled to properly introduce myself despite the likelihood that he already knew. His lips curled into a slight smile.

"Indeed. My name is Edward Cullen."

I nodded, shifting my gaze from him to the table to the pile of papers on the table in front of me. I couldn't reply however since the teacher was faster.

"Before you begin, please notify that you will get a grade on this at the end of the semester, and that means that it will replace the usual test. Please continue." Now that was made clear the atmosphere in the classroom turned much lighter and less bored. As the other groups began planning I also turned to the person next to me.

"Do you prefer to translate separately or per sentence?" Edward kindly asked, and I shrugged, tucking a strand of black hair behind an ear to appear less cold and distant.

"Um, I do not know – whichever you prefer."

"In that case it would seem that taking turns is the most effective, do you agree?" He was more polite and kinder than I had expected – yet another reason why I shouldn't jump to conclusions and instead should socialize more with the people around me. _As if you'd actually do that,_ the other part of me scoffed. _Now, focus._

The pile Mr. Howard had given me consisted of two copies of the Medeia by Euridi- no, Euripides. One I gave to my neighbor and the other I opened.

The translating went fluently throughout the hour – on his part at least. Greek wasn't something I could wrap my head around well (the same counts for math, but that is beside the point) and my turns were filled with stuttering and being unable to remember the right meaning of a word. It was, to put it mildly, embarrassing. Edward didn't seem to mind, surprisingly. Perhaps he was too uninterested in the subject to care? No, that didn't make sense in the slightest. Why else would he transfer to a different subject if he didn't hold a certain interest in it? And the ease he translated the sentences made me suspect he had done an advanced program on Greek. Or maybe he just had a knack for it, I did not know. But I appreciated it whenever he helped me out anyway.

When the hour was over we did not converse, but then again I wasn't a people person, hence my gladness.

Now geography – oh joy.


	5. Marie Hayes

"Come Jamie, stay close."

With his feet the toddler pushed himself forward on a red, blue and yellow tricycle, up the lawn, over the sidewalk. Not the street, because his mother had forbidden it. He didn't listen to her when she called him, so his mother, who was walking several feet behind him, had to repeat: "Jamie, come!"

Now the toddler obeyed, and he waited for her to catch up with him. As he waited, something small caught his attention. A bird. In one of the front yards a small robin was pottering around, looking for food. What kind of food he didn't know. Worms? Or seeds? His grandpa had once told him that birds didn't eat sweets or bread or pancakes but seeds and worms and insects and even spiders. Grandpa liked birds. He had lots of pictures, and dead birds that looked very very real and were very scary. Jamie also liked birds, they were funny. Sometimes he scared them away with his tricycle, and they would quickly fly away to another spot and he would chase after them. Ducks were also funny, each time he hunted ducks they'd quack at him and waggle away. Ducks can fly, too.

Marie, his mom, caught up with him, and he quickly speeded up to stay ahead of her.

She smiled fondly at the sight. Jamie was a curious kid, always wanting to learn new things. With his big, round, blue eyes he actively spied his environment, wherever he may be, whomever he may be with. He was almost four, and things never failed to bore him. That's what made him so fond of his grandfather, who was a scientist in the biology sector. Since he retired a couple of years ago he occasionally taught at the nearby high school as a guest lecturer. He was often frustrated about the lack of interest in his subject, and poured his knowledge on his three-year-old grandson instead. They would often go on a walk through his and Annie's large backyard, telling stories and pointing out different trees, plants, birds, small mammals and whatever more they would encounter, reciting interesting facts and myths. Little Jamie would walk alongside him and listen to his words with fascination. At times she would go with them, but most of the time she was either working or watching them together with her mother, while enjoying a cup of tea.

No such luck this time. One of her colleagues had become ill overnight and she had to step in for him this afternoon. Luckily her parents were home, and she could bring Jamie over for the rest of the day. As a single mom she could use the extra money, so there was no point in declining the offer of working more. Jamie didn't seem to mind, had had met the announcement with his ever-present enthusiasm. He was the main source of happiness in her life, and she would do anything to ensure his happiness. He was her everything.

They had just left the flat they lived in and were on their way to the outskirts where her parents lived. Compared to Seattle Tacoma wasn't that big, and it was only a few blocks away, so there was no need taking the car: walking is healthy after all.

The sky was overcast with white and light grey clouds, but the cold made everyone stay indoors so the streets were pretty much deserted. The toddler raced around as fast as his little feet could push him. A thick, dark blue winter coat held him warm, like an adorable marshmallow, and two small gloves dangled off the sleeves on strings.

 _Sweety._

Soon they neared series of cottages from around the 1920s, with a broad front porch and a small second floor tucked away in the attic, and white painted woodwork.

An elderly woman opened the front door. Her posture was slightly bent forward, and blonde dyed hair framed a wrinkled face. Two icy blue eyes looked Marie up and down.

"Hello mum."

A smile appeared on her face. "Oh, it's you! Come on in dear, come in." She opened the door further and took a step back.

Marie turned to the child. "Come Jamie! Leave your bike here outside."

"Yes, you can leave it there," the grandmother confirmed, speaking to Jamie, who left his tricycle on the grass and stormed inside. "Yes, come. It's cold outside, isn't it?"

Marie followed them inside and closed the door behind herself. The interior of the cottage matched the exterior – beige-painted wood on the walls, an equal coloured rug on the floor, and dark wood furniture.

Jamie ignored the statement, and instead struggled to take off his coat. "I saw a bird!" he exclaimed, and his grandmother nodded comprehensively as she helped him.

"Now did you? I reckon you should tell your grandpa that. Leave your jacket to me – he is in the living room."

She pointed to the door on the left, and Jamie stormed off to tell grandpa all about the bird he'd seen and what it ate.

Marie placed one hand on her hip with a smile on her face. "Thanks for wanting to watch over him on such a short notice."

Her mother waved it off. "No problem dear, you know we love to have you two over. It gives your father something to do, at the very least."

"Thanks," Marie repeated, and readjusted her grey scarf. "He's already had lunch, and I expect to be back around five so we can eat dinner at home."

"None of that," her mother said resolutely. "Why don't you join us tonight? I'm planning on preparing spaghetti with meatballs, and you know how much Jamie loves that. I always cook too much, and your father should eat less. He's gained four pounds in the last two weeks!" she whispered confidentially, as if her husband's mild overweight was something secret. As a matter of fact, he'd gained a beer belly from the moment he retired some twelve years ago.

"Alright mom, we'll stay over for dinner. Thank you. Bye Jamie!" she called out to her child in the next room, who at these words came running back to his mother to hug her. "Be nice okay?"

"Promise!" he told her, and let go. Off he was again within a matter of seconds. Boy, she could use his energy sometimes.

She turned to her mother. "Well then, see you mom."

"Have fun at work!" was the response.

Marie shook her head laughingly. "Mom, we don't 'have fun' at work, you know that." She stepped outside in the cold.

"Oh, but that depends on the workers," her mother assured her. "Bye honey!"

"Bye," Marie replied, and ventured out on the street while the door behind her closed.

 **WOMAN KILLED IN ANOTHER FREAK ACCIDENT**

WEDNESDAY MARCH 2nd  
After her three-day disappearance the body of the 27-year-old Marie Hayes was found in the Commencement Bay. Two sailors found the body washed ashore, some feet away from a small-sized speed boat. The mother of one had been missing since last Saturday, when she hadn't returned after hours of waiting her mother had alarmed the police. Specialists say that the cause of death was a blow on the head and several fatal wounds, caused by the boat screw. This is the third freak accident in the same region within three months, but so far there hasn't been found any link between the different accidents.


	6. What Bella thinks

**A/N: Hey everyone, a quick warning: a rather big part of this chapter has been copied from Twilight, with some mild modifications. So hereby the disclaimer, I guess. At any rate, enjoy the chapter, and let me know what you guys think/want/wonder etc.!**

 ***Bella's p.o.v.***

February 28th, 2005, 7:23 AM **  
Good morning Bella  
I have become ill in the weekend and won't be able to attend school today, I am sorry…**

February 28th, 2005, 7:34 AM **  
Ow that's too bad :/ What is it? Should I bring you your homework?**

February 28th, 2005, 7:36 AM **  
That is kind of you – however, it is my migraine that has caught up with me again, therefore I doubt I'll be able to make any of the assignments.**

February 28th, 2005, 7:36 AM **  
Hm. I'll take notes for you then, and ask Jess and Ange for your other subjects.  
Get well soon!**

March 28th, 2005, 7:38 AM **  
Thank you very much. Please do inform me about your day, will you? The most peculiar situations happen to take place the exact days I miss school.**

February 28th, 2005, 7:41 AM  
 **Sure, I guess, I'll warn you before calling. But I gotta go now**

February 28th, 2005, 5:14 PM **  
You were right, it's really too bad you weren't at school today – the sun almost broke through the clouds! The teachers however were just as usual, and Lauren threw an insult to my head during lunch hour which I pretended not to hear. What is her problem? At any rate, we'll have a short government test at March 8th about paragraph three to five. And Ange and Jess have agreed to take notes, and Eric will jot down Greek. He suggested it with a little too much enthusiasm in my opinion – is it you or me? Rest well!**

March 1st, 2005, 5:06 PM  
 **Okay, so you won't believe what happened today! I still can't believe it myself. Mike AND Eric AND Tyler asked me to the Girl's Choice Prom! I was completely stunned. Tyler is that darker guy who occasionally sits with us during lunch. It was really weird, also bc it's supposed to be GIRL's choice and all…  
By the way, is it okay if I call you? Do you feel well enough for that? If you don't respond then I'll just assume you're too ill to answer.**

March 1st, 2005, 5:24 PM **  
I'm sorry I didn't respond earlier. That's quite the story, I'll take some painkillers so that you can tell me the details!**

March 1st, 2005, 5:29 PM **  
I'll call you around 7.**

That afternoon I decided to make chicken enchiladas for dinner. While I was simmering the onions and chilies, the phone rang - it was Jessica. She was jubilant; Mike had caught her after school to tell her he accepted her invitation.  
"That's great Jess!" I told her while I stirred.  
"I know right! I gotta go, I have to tell Angela and Lauren this! Prom's going to be great."  
"If they don't have partners yet, maybe Angela could ask Eric and Lauren Tyler. They're both still available for as far as I know."  
"Oh, I haven't thought of that, that's perfect! Are you sure you're not coming?" She actually sounded sincere now that she had Mike as a date.  
"Yes," I persisted the lie, "I'm going to Seattle that day, remember? But anyway you guys have fun."  
"Thanks – see you tomorrow in Trig!"  
"Bye Jess."

After I hung up, I tried to concentrate on dinner - dicing the chicken especially; I didn't want to take a trip to the emergency room.  
Charlie seemed suspicious when he came home and smelled the green peppers. I couldn't blame him - the closest edible Mexican food was probably in southern California. But he was a cop, even if just a small-town cop, so he was brave enough to take the first bite. He seemed to like it. It was fun to watch as he slowly began trusting me in the kitchen.  
"Dad?" I asked when he was almost done.  
"Yeah, Bella?"  
"Um, I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to Seattle for the day a week from Saturday... if that's okay?" I didn't want to ask permission - it set a bad precedent - but I felt rude, so I tacked it on at the end.  
"Why?" He sounded surprised, as if he were unable to imagine something that Forks couldn't offer.  
"Well, I wanted to get few books - the library here is pretty limited - and maybe look at some clothes." I had more money than I was used to having, since, thanks to Charlie, I hadn't had to pay for a car. Not that the truck didn't cost me quite a bit in the gas department.  
"That truck probably doesn't get very good gas mileage," he said, echoing my thoughts.  
"I know, I'll stop in Montesano and Olympia - and Tacoma if I have to."  
"Are you going all by yourself?" he asked, and I couldn't tell if he was suspicious I had a secret boyfriend or just worried about car trouble.  
"Yes."  
"Seattle is a big city - you could get lost," he fretted.  
"Dad, Phoenix is five times the size of Seattle - and I can read a map, don't worry about it."  
"How about your friend, that girl, uh, Lewis…?"  
"Avery" I helped him. "And no, she's at home with a migraine, she probably doesn't want to go."  
That wasn't entirely true – migraines didn't last that long, but I didn't want her to miss the dance because of me.  
"Do you want me to come with you?"  
I tried to be crafty as I hid my horror. "That's all right, Dad, I'll probably just be in dressing rooms all day - very boring."  
"Oh, okay." The thought of sitting in women's clothing stores for any period of time immediately put him off.  
"Thanks." I smiled at him.  
"Will you be back in time for the dance?"  
Grrr. Only in a town this small would a father know when the high school dances were.  
"No - I don't dance, Dad." He, of all people, should understand that - I didn't get my balance problems from my mother.  
He did understand. "Oh, that's right," he realized.

After washing the plates I called up Avery as promised. When she picked up the phone she sounded tired.  
"Hey Ave, how are you?"  
" _Oh, hi Bella. I am getting better, thank you_." She attempted to create the impression that she was fine, but I knew better. " _I think I'll be back at school the day after tomorrow, but I cannot be certain. But do tell me; what happened between you and your admirers?"_  
There was the should-have-expected teasing.  
"Oh, not you too," I groaned. "Ugh, fine. Well, first Jess asked me if I wouldn't mind if she'd ask Mike, 'because maybe I'd wanted to ask him'. I reassured her I wasn't going to prom anyway. You know how bad dancing and me combine. Later Mike came to me, saying that he'd told Jess that he had to think about it – instead he prompted that I should ask him. I turned him down, because Jess clearly has a crush on him and she deserves him. I told him I'm going to Seattle that day, have to remember that. Then when school was over Eric was suddenly coming up to me when I was standing next to my car, and asked me straightforward if I wanted to go to prom with him, which I obviously also refused. Apparently he'd been bragging about having me as a date on the ball. Can you believe it, they think I'm something special to show around with or something! I tell you, there must be something wrong with the guys at this school."

Avery was silent for a moment.  
 _".. so you will actually be going to Seattle that day?"_  
"Seriously, that's what you focus on from this all? But well, yeah, maybe get myself some books and clothes… I have some money left."  
 _"Will your car make it?"_  
"Have a little faith in my car! I'll stop for gas a couple of times if I have to, it'll make it."

 _"Then I insist I will accompany you. Seattle is a large city, and I am sure Chief Swan would also be more at ease if he knew someone was coming with you,"_ she pressed the matter.  
"Really, you don't have to," I quickly replied. "You shouldn't miss prom because of me."  
 _"I am certain that you will be fine, last year is not going to repeat itself, the main reason being that Ianthe is not around. You should not deny yourself the festivities."_

I sighed. "Ave, I'll be _fine_. Oh by the way, Mike's invited me along with the others on a trip to a beach near La Push, in the Reservation. Do you want to come along?" I quickly changed the topic, hopefully she'd forget about Seattle.

Apparently I surprised her with the offer, because she sounded uncertain when she replied. _"Uhm, I suppose? As long as the other people will not mind…"_

"Nah, I'm sure they won't. Don't worry."

 _"If you say so."_

"Yes, I say so. Hey, how about I come over tomorrow? To give you the notes and stuff."

 _"You know you are always welcome. Why don't you come immediately after school, that will be the easiest for you,_ _won't it?"_

"Ok. See you tomorrow Ave!"  
 _"Alright, bye."_

* * *

The next morning passed uneventfully. I scribbled down a note to Charlie that I was going to Avery's after school, and placed it under the TV remote: the first place he'd look when he'd get home.

It wasn't till the first class ended at school that I realized Mike wasn't sitting in his usual seat next to me. I felt a twinge of guilt. But he and Eric both met me at the door as usual, so I figured I wasn't totally unforgiven. Mike seemed to become more himself as we walked, gaining enthusiasm as he talked about the weather report for this weekend. The rain was supposed to take a minor break, and so maybe his beach trip would be possible. I tried to sound eager, to make up for disappointing him yesterday. It was hard; rain or no rain, it would still only be in the high forties, if we were lucky.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur. Jessica babbled on and on about her dance plans - Lauren and Angela had asked the other boys and they were all going together - completely unaware of my inattention. At least the rain had stopped.

I didn't realise the first bell had rung until I heard the second one, but I was lucky; Mr. Banner wasn't in the room yet when I arrived. I settled quickly into my seat, aware that both Mike and Angela were staring at me. I had extra space for my books ever since Edward Cullen – I mentally flinched at the memory of his deadly glare – had transferred to Greek. I still blamed it on myself, though I didn't know what I'd done wrong. Had he seen me stare during lunch hour that day? Avery kept assuring me that it was nothing, that I couldn't have done anything wrong, but I couldn't bring myself to believe that for some reason.

Mr. Banner came in the room then, calling the class to order. He was juggling a few small cardboard boxes in his arms. He put them down on Mike's table, telling him to start passing them around the class.

"Okay, guys, I want you all to take one piece from each box," he said as he produced a pair of rubber gloves from the pocket of his lab jacket and pulled them on. The sharp sound as the gloves snapped into place against his wrists seemed ominous to me. "The first should be an indicator card," he went on, grabbing a white card with four squares marked on it and displaying it. "The second is a four-pronged applicator -" he held up something that looked like a nearly toothless hair pick "- and the third is a sterile micro-lancet." He held up a small piece of blue plastic and split it open. The barb was invisible from this distance, but my stomach flipped.

"I'll be coming around with a dropper of water to prepare your cards, so please don't start until I get to you." He began at Mike's table again, carefully putting one drop of water in each of the four squares. "Then I want you to carefully prick your finger with the lancet..." He grabbed Mike's hand and jabbed the spike into the tip of Mike's middle finger. Oh no. Clammy moisture broke out across my forehead.

"Put a small drop of blood on each of the prongs." He demonstrated, squeezing Mike's finger till the blood flowed. I swallowed convulsively, my stomach heaving.

"And then apply it to the card," he finished, holding up the dripping red card for us to see. I closed my eyes, trying to hear through the ringing in my ears.

"The Red Cross is having a blood drive in Port Angeles next weekend, so I thought you should all know your blood type." He sounded proud of himself. "Those of you who aren't eighteen yet will need a parent's permission - I have slips at my desk."  
He continued through the room with his water drops. I put my cheek against the cool black tabletop and tried to hold on to my consciousness. All around me I could hear squeals, complaints, and giggles as my classmates skewered their fingers. I breathed slowly in and out through my mouth.

"Bella, are you all right?" Mr. Banner asked. His voice was close to my head, and it sounded alarmed.  
"I already know my blood type, Mr. Banner," I said in a weak voice. I was afraid to raise my head.  
"Are you feeling faint?"  
"Yes, sir," I muttered, internally kicking myself for not ditching when I had the chance.  
"Can someone take Bella to the nurse, please?" he called.  
I didn't have to look up to know that it would be Mike who volunteered.  
"Can you walk?" Mr. Banner asked.  
"Yes," I whispered. Just let me get out of here, I thought. I'll crawl.

Mike seemed eager as he put his arm around my waist and pulled my arm over his shoulder. I leaned against him heavily on the way out of the classroom.  
Mike towed me slowly across campus. When we were around the edge of the cafeteria, out of sight of building four in case Mr. Banner was watching, I stopped.  
"Just let me sit for a minute, please?" I begged.  
He helped me sit on the edge of the walk.  
"And whatever you do, keep your hand in your pocket," I warned. I was still so dizzy. I slumped over on my side, putting my cheek against the freezing, damp cement of the sidewalk, closing my eyes. That seemed to help a little.  
"Wow, you're green, Bella," Mike said nervously.  
I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to die. Or, at the very least, not to throw up.  
"Come on, Bella, it's just a short distance now." Mike tugged on my arm, and with a surprising strength he lifted me and dragged me along.  
I closed my eyes again and fought the nausea with all my strength, clamping my lips together.

I don't know how he opened the door while mostly carrying me, but it was suddenly warm, so I knew we were inside.  
"Oh my," I heard a female voice gasp.  
"She fainted," Mike brought out.

I opened my eyes. I was in the office, and Mike was helping me past the front counter toward the nurse's door. Ms. Cope, the redheaded front office receptionist, ran ahead of him to hold it open. The grandmotherly nurse looked up from a novel, astonished, as Mike set me down on the crackly paper that covered the brown vinyl mattress on the one cot.

"She's fainted," he repeated to the startled nurse. "We're blood typing in Biology."  
The nurse nodded sagely. "There's always one." She turned to me. "Just lie down for a minute, honey; it'll pass."  
"I know," I sighed. The nausea was already fading.  
"Does this happen a lot?" she asked.  
"Sometimes," I admitted. Mike still lingered around me, worried.  
"You can go back to class now," she told him.

"I'm supposed to stay with her." He persisted, but the nurse sent him out.  
"I'll go get you some ice for your forehead, dear," she then said to me, and then bustled out of the room.  
I heard the door and opened my eyes to see the nurse with a cold compress in her hand.  
"Here you go, dear." She laid it across my forehead. "You're looking better," she added.  
"I think I'm fine," I said, sitting up. Just a little ringing in my ears, no spinning. The mint green walls stayed where they should.

I could see she was about to make me lie back down, but the door opened just then, and Ms. Cope stuck her head in.  
"We've got another one," she warned.  
I hopped down to free up the cot for the next invalid.  
I handed the compress back to the nurse. "Here, I don't need this."  
And then Mike staggered through the door, now supporting a sallow-looking Lee Stephens, another boy in our Biology class. I drew back against the wall to give them room, and then I spun and caught the door before it closed, darting out of the infirmary.

Mike came through the door then, carefully inspecting my face. "You look better," he stated.  
"Just keep your hand in your pocket," I warned him again.  
"It's not bleeding anymore," he muttered. "Are you going back to class?"  
"Are you kidding? I'd just have to turn around and come back."

"Yeah, I guess... So are you going this weekend? To the beach?"  
I tried to sound as friendly as possible. "Sure, I said I was in."  
"We're meeting at my dad's store, at ten."

"I'll be there," I promised.  
"I'll see you in Gym, then," he said, moving uncertainly toward the door.  
"See you," I replied. He looked at me once more, his round face slightly pouting, and then as he walked slowly through the door, his shoulders slumped. A swell of sympathy washed over me. I pondered seeing his disappointed face again... in Gym.

* * *

I meant to sleep in that Saturday, but an unusual brightness woke me. I opened my eyes to see a clear yellow light streaming through my window. I couldn't believe it. I hurried to the window to check, and sure enough, there was the sun. It was in the wrong place in the sky, too low, and it didn't seem to be as close as it should be, but it was definitely the sun.

Clouds ringed the horizon, but a large patch of blue was visible in the middle. I lingered by the window as long as I could, afraid that if I left the blue would disappear again.

In the parking lot I recognized Mike's Suburban and Tyler's Sentra. Avery's Mustang was yet missing, which was strange. She usually was early for anything, and yesterday she'd agreed on coming. As I pulled up next to the guys vehicles, I could see the group standing around in front of the Suburban. Eric was there, along with two other boys I had class with; I was fairly sure their names were Ben and Conner. Jess was there, flanked by Angela and Lauren. Three other girls stood with them, including one I remembered falling over in Gym on Friday. That one gave me a dirty look as I got out of the truck, and whispered something to Lauren. Lauren shook out her corn silk hair and eyed me scornfully.  
So it was going to be one of those days. At least Mike was happy to see me.  
"You came!" he called, delighted. "And I said it would be sunny today, didn't I?"  
"I told you I was coming," I reminded him.  
"We're just waiting for Lee and Samantha… unless you invited someone," Mike added.  
"Actually I asked Avery to come…" I admitted, hoping they would be alright with her coming along.  
Mike looked slightly disappointed, but tried to hide it. "That's fine, I think."  
He then changed the subject.  
"Will you ride in my car? It's that or Lee's mom's minivan." "Sure."  
He smiled blissfully. It was so easy to make Mike happy.  
"You can have shotgun," he promised. I hid my chagrin. It wasn't as simple to make Mike and Jessica happy at the same time. I could see Jessica glowering at us now.  
The numbers worked out in my favour, though. Avery did come after all, and Lee brought two extra people, and suddenly every seat was necessary. I managed to wedge Jess in between Mike and me in the front seat of the Suburban. Mike could have been more graceful about it, but at least Jess seemed appeased.  
It was only fifteen miles to La Push from Forks, with gorgeous, dense green forests edging the road most of the way and the wide Quillayute River snaking beneath it twice. I was glad I had the window seat. We'd rolled the windows down — the Suburban was a bit claustrophobic with nine people in it — and I tried to absorb as much sunlight as possible.  
I'd been to the beaches around La Push many times during my Forks summers with Charlie, so the mile-long crescent of First Beach was familiar to me. It was still breathtaking.  
The water was dark gray, even in the sunlight, white-capped and heaving to the gray, rocky shore. Islands rose out of the steel harbor waters with sheer cliff sides, reaching to uneven summits, and crowned with austere, soaring firs.  
The beach had only a thin border of actual sand at the water's edge, after which it grew into millions of large, smooth stones that looked uniformly gray from a distance, but close up were every shade a stone could be: terra-cotta, sea green, lavender, blue gray, dull gold.  
The tide line was strewn with huge driftwood trees, bleached bone white in the salt waves, some piled together against the edge of the forest fringe, some lying solitary, just out of reach of the waves.  
There was a brisk wind coming off the waves, cool and briny. Pelicans floated on the swells while seagulls and a lone eagle wheeled above them. The clouds still circled the sky, threatening to invade at any moment, but for now the sun shone bravely in its halo of blue sky.

We picked our way down to the beach, Mike leading the way to a ring of driftwood logs that had obviously been used for parties like ours before. There was a fire circle already in place, filled with black ashes. Eric and the boy I thought was named Ben gathered broken branches of driftwood from the drier piles against the forest edge, and soon had a teepee-shaped construction built atop the old cinders.  
"Have you ever seen a driftwood fire?" Mike asked me. I was sitting on one of the bone-colored benches next to Ave; the other girls clustered, gossiping excitedly, on either side of us. Mike kneeled by the fire, lighting one of the smaller sticks with a cigarette lighter.  
"No," I said as he placed the blazing twig carefully against the teepee.  
"You'll like this then — watch the colors." He lit another small branch and laid it alongside the first. The flames started to lick quickly up the dry wood.  
"It's blue," I said in surprise.  
"The salt does it. Pretty, isn't it?" He lit one more piece, placed it where the fire hadn't yet caught, and then came to sit by me. Thankfully, Jess was on his other side. She turned to him and claimed his attention. I watched the strange blue and green flames crackle toward the sky.  
For the first time since we left off from Forks Avery spoke up: "The fire is truly mesmerising, isn't it?"  
I looked up at her, she was toying with the sleeves of her purple sweater, eyes fixed on the fire.  
"One pro of Forks, noted," I replied, and she laughed silently.  
"You forget your admirers," she teased, and I groaned.  
"I count them as a very big con."

After a half hour of chatter, some of the boys wanted to hike to the nearby tidal pools. It was a dilemma. On the one hand, I loved the tide pools. They had fascinated me since I was a child; they were one of the only things I ever looked forward to when I had to come to Forks. On the other hand, I'd also fallen into them a lot. Not a big deal when you're seven and with your dad. It reminded me of Charlie's request — that I not fall into the ocean.  
Lauren was the one who made my decision for me. She didn't want to hike, and she was definitely wearing the wrong shoes for it. Most of the other girls besides Angela and Jessica decided to stay on the beach as well. Avery commented that she would go with me, and so I waited until Tyler and Eric had committed to remaining with them before I got up quietly to join the pro-hiking group. Mike gave me a huge smile when he saw that I was coming.  
The hike wasn't too long, though I hated to lose the sky in the woods. The green light of the forest was strangely at odds with the adolescent laughter, too murky and ominous to be in harmony with the light banter around me. I had to watch each step I took very carefully, avoiding roots below and branches above, and I soon fell behind. Eventually I broke through the emerald confines of the forest and found the rocky shore again. It was low tide, and a tidal river flowed past us on its way to the sea. Along its pebbled banks, shallow pools that never completely drained were teeming with life.  
I was very cautious not to lean too far over the little ocean ponds. The others were fearless, leaping over the rocks, perching precariously on the edges.  
I found a very stable-looking rock on the fringe of one of the largest pools and sat there cautiously, spellbound by the natural aquarium below me. The bouquets of brilliant anemones undulated ceaselessly in the invisible current, twisted shells scurried about the edges, obscuring the crabs within them, starfish stuck motionless to the rocks and each other, while one small black eel with white racing stripes wove through the bright green weeds, waiting for the sea to return. I was completely absorbed.  
Finally the boys were hungry, and I got up stiffly to follow them back. I tried to keep up better this time through the woods, so naturally I fell a few times, though Avery caught me most of the time. Where she got the reflexes from was a mystery to me. Nevertheless I got some bruises on my palms, and the knees of my jeans were stained green, but it could have been far worse.  
When we got back to First Beach, the group we'd left behind had multiplied. As we got closer we could see the shining, straight black hair and copper skin of the newcomers, teenagers from the reservation come to socialize.  
Next to me Avery suddenly stopped, looking uncomfortable and.. afraid?  
"It- It's getting late," she muttered, and took a step away from the fire. "I still have to finish an assignment… Perhaps it is better for me to go now." Her eyes were sharply focused on a tall, older boy. He was really closer to a man than a boy.  
I frowned, this wasn't normal behaviour for her. And why would she be afraid of a couple of boys? I decided to go with it anyway. "If you think so… How will you get back?"  
She waved it off, shifting her weight from side to side. "I'll ask if I can lend a car, and otherwise I'll call Dominique, she stayed home as well," she said, referring to a girl from biology.  
"Alright.. See you on Monday then," I replied uncertainly, and watched her walk off to where the cars were.  
The food was already being passed around, and the boys hurried to claim a share while Eric introduced us as we each entered the driftwood circle. I was the last to arrive, and, as Eric said my name, I noticed a younger boy sitting on the stones near the fire glance up at me in interest.  
I sat down next to Angela, and Mike brought us sandwiches and an array of sodas to choose from, while the boy at whom Avery had stared so intensely rattled off the names of the seven others with him. All I caught was that one of the girls was also named Jessica, and the boy who noticed me was named Jacob.  
It was relaxing to sit with Angela; she was a restful kind of person to be around — she didn't feel the need to fill every silence with chatter. She left me free to think undisturbed while we ate. And I was thinking about how disjointedly time seemed to flow in Forks, passing in a blur at times, with single images standing out more clearly than others. And then, at other times, every second was significant, etched in my mind.  
I also overthought Ave's actions just now, she usually was the one who chivvied me to socialize.  
During lunch the clouds started to advance, slinking across the blue sky, darting in front of the sun momentarily, casting long shadows across the beach, and blackening the waves. As they finished eating, people started to drift away in twos and threes. Some walked down to the edge of the waves, trying to skip rocks across the choppy surface. Others were gathering a second expedition to the tide pools. Mike — with Jessica shadowing him — headed up to the one shop in the village. Some of the local kids went with them; others went along on the hike. By the time they all had scattered, I was sitting alone on my driftwood log, with Lauren and Tyler occupying themselves by the CD player someone had thought to bring, and three teenagers from the reservation perched around the circle, including the boy named Jacob and the oldest boy who had acted as spokesperson.  
A few minutes after Angela left with the hikers, Jacob sauntered over to take her place by my side. He looked fourteen, maybe fifteen, and had long, glossy black hair pulled back with a rubber band at the nape of his neck. His skin was beautiful, silky and russet-colored; his eyes were dark, set deep above the high planes of his cheekbones. He still had just a hint of childish roundness left around his chin. Altogether, a very pretty face. However, my positive opinion of his looks was damaged by the first words out of his mouth.  
"You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?"  
It was like the first day of school all over again. "Bella," I sighed.  
"I'm Jacob Black." He held his hand out in a friendly gesture. "You bought my dad's truck."  
"Oh," I said, relieved, shaking his sleek hand. "You're Billy's son. I probably should remember you."  
"No, I'm the youngest of the family — you would remember my older sisters."  
"Rachel and Rebecca," I suddenly recalled. Charlie and Billy had thrown us together a lot during my visits, to keep us busy while they fished. We were all too shy to make much progress as friends. Of course, I'd kicked up enough tantrums to end the fishing trips by the time I was eleven.  
"Are they here?" I examined the girls at the ocean's edge, wondering if I would recognize them now.  
"No." Jacob shook his head. "Rachel got a scholarship to Washington State, and Rebecca married a Samoan surfer — she lives in Hawaii now."  
"Married. Wow." I was stunned. The twins were only a little over a year older than I was.

"So how do you like the truck?" he asked.  
"I love it. It runs great."  
"Yeah, but it's really slow," he laughed. "I was so relieved when Charlie bought it. My dad wouldn't let me work on building another car when we had a perfectly good vehicle right there."  
"It's not that slow," I objected. "Have you tried to go over sixty?" "No," I admitted.  
"Good. Don't." He grinned.  
"So you build cars?" I asked, impressed.  
"When I have free time, and parts. You wouldn't happen to know where I could get my hands on a master cylinder for a 1986 Volkswagen Rabbit?" he added jokingly. He had a pleasant, husky voice.  
"Sorry," I laughed, "I haven't seen any lately, but I'll keep my eyes open for you." As if I knew what that was. He was very easy to talk with.  
He flashed a brilliant smile, looking at me appreciatively in a way I was learning to recognize. I wasn't the only one who noticed.  
"You know Bella, Jacob?" Lauren asked — in what I imagined was an insolent tone — from across the fire.  
"We've sort of known each other since I was born," he laughed, smiling at me again.  
"How nice." She didn't sound like she thought it was nice at all, and her pale, fishy eyes narrowed.  
"Bella," she called again, watching my face carefully, "I was just saying to Tyler that that girl you invited has disappeared – what is her name again?" Her expression of concern was unconvincing.

"You mean the black-haired girl?" the older boy asked before I could respond, much to Lauren's irritation. His voice was very deep.

"Yes, do you know her?" she asked condescendingly, turning halfway toward him.

"She couldn't stay here," he said in a tone that closed the subject, ignoring her question.

Tyler, trying to win back her attention, asked Lauren's opinion on a CD he held. She was distracted.

I stared at the deep-voiced boy, taken aback, but he was looking away toward the dark forest behind us and then walked away from the group, towards the village. He'd said that Avery couldn't stay here, but his tone had implied something more — that she wasn't allowed; she was prohibited. It was almost a threat. His manner left a strange impression on me, and I tried to ignore it without success.

Jacob interrupted my meditation. "So is Forks driving you insane yet?"

"Oh, I'd say that's an understatement." I grimaced. He grinned understandingly.


	7. Back to school

**A/N: Hello all you wonderful people! As you may have noticed I haven't posted anything in a long time - exam year, hurrah. I hope you like this chapter and please do comment on whether it was good (or bad) or what you would like to see in the future ^-^**

Grey skies were reflected in the puddles on the sidewalk and the street, and they were still growing and flowing due to the constant heavy rain that mercilessly beat down on the umbrellas and raincoats of the occasional passer-by. Not that the latter wasn't used to it. This also happened to be the day that I had decided that I should pay a visit to the local library after school. It was the Tuesday after the trip to La Push Beach, and after two brighter and warmer days the clouds had returned from the sea, and as a result the temperature had dropped instantly to a mere 44 degrees.

Absentmindedly I tugged at the sleeve of my raincoat as I beheld the library, a one-storey building of red bricks at the corner of two streets. A car politely waited for me when I hurried across the road to find shelter underneath the roof held up by rustic reddish brown pillars. Shoved against the wall was a whiteboard with the opening hours and an announcement for an upcoming book sale. There I took off my wet coat before entering through the glass door.

Two of the people glanced up at the sound of the door opening and the rain outside, but that was only a reflex. The librarian, or I assumed he was, nodded in acknowledgement and greeted with a "How are you?" to which I replied in a similar fashion. The pepper-and-salt haired man then returned to his work behind the small counter. I wiped my feet and hung my coat on the full coat rack. They had placed rubber mats underneath so as to spare the wooden flooring somewhat.

The interior was a far cry from what Phoenix had to offer concerning libraries, but in a good way. The dark grey walls with white bookshelves in front, the wooden flooring and in the centre green and beige sofas, wooden chairs and desks, and a cosy fireplace. The rustic pillars were also present inside, and the windows and ceiling lights provided plenty of brightness to read comfortably.

Among the few people present I recognised a senior student from high school, and around the unlit fireplace a brown-haired girl from one grade lower and.. Dominique? They were busy studying with both library- as schoolbooks to guide them, and currently they were caught in an animated conversation. There were two green sofas opposite of the fireplace, and these were the ones they had occupied. From where I stood I could only see Dominique's dark curls bound together in a ponytail, and the brown-haired girl with freckles. The latter was wearing a beanie on top of her braided hair (in pigtails).

I didn't quite feel the need to disturb their business, and neither was I in the mood for socializing. Instead I moved to the first shelf and prayed they wouldn't notice me.

 _Abbey… Abbott… Abel…_

The books had been sorted by category and alphabetically by the author's surname, and I studied the covers carefully from a polite distance, only to step forward to take one out and read the summary if any on the back.

 _Cliff… Coates… Cohen… Coleridge._

That last one drew my attention, it being a famous name. _The Lyrical Ballads._ So far I'd only heard of that title, it had brought forth quite a change in poetry and literature in Britain, and subsequently in North-America and the rest of Europe. The bundle had a simple brown hardcover, with the title and authors' names in small golden letters on the front.

 _LYRICAL BALLADS, WITH A FEW OTHER POEMS. LONDON. Printed for J. & A. Arch, Gracechurch-street, 1798._

 _The Rime of the Ancient Mariner PART I_

 _An ancient Mariner meeteth three gallants bidden to a wedding feast, and detaineth one._

 _IT is an ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three. 'By thy long beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?_

After the first few verses I decided to borrow this bundle. I held it close and continued my search. The more letters of the alphabet passed, the closer did the back of the library and thus Dominique and her friend come, who hadn't noticed me – yet.

 _Kosinski… Kraft… Kramer… Krueger…_

In a swift movement I pulled my hair from behind my ears so that it fell in front of my face, in the hopes of it helping me pass unnoticed. My behaviour at this point might look in contradiction to how I would react upon seeing a friend from school, but the point was that today I didn't really feel like being compelled to conversate – at school it was fine, but now, at 4:45 PM, I'd rather spend the afternoon on my own. Allow thoughts to be sorted out. The nightmares that had kept me awake the previous night had left me quite tired, and tiredness, I had learnt, often caused impolite behaviour.

 _Nordhoff… Norman… Norris…_

"Avery? Hey, how are you?"  
I closed my eyes for a second, plastered a polite (yet faux) smile on my face and turned around to face Dominique, who now sat backwards on the sofa.

"Oh, hi Dominique. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks. We're busy for geo, still 5 exercises to go. Yay." She gestured to the books around her.

"Ugh, don't remind me," the freckled girl groaned, and dramatically covered her face. "I still've got like loads of work to do."

Dominique smirked and looked up at me. "This is Sarah Collins, she's one grade lower."

Sarah removed her hands and sat back up, the books on her lap shifted. "Yeah, and guess which subject was to blame me not passing? That trip to La Push was nice, but now I've gotta catch up with like all my subjects."

Dominique snickered and patted her friend on the head. "And _that's_ why _I_ didn't go, I have a history assignment due soon which is far from easy."

Sarah nodded solemnly when a thought stroke her. "Oh by the way, Avery; why did you leave earlier? Saturday I mean. At least, I didn't see you after we, like, went to the caves."

My mind raced to come up with a proper argument. My fingers got hold of a loose thread in the stitching. "I was just tired, I fathom. My health has not been all too good last week." Not to mention the anxious feeling that welled up in my chest. I did not intend to lie to the girls, but neither could I tell them that the newly arrived group last Saturday had aroused a defensiveness within me – the dormant danger that had come off them.

Dominique had conjured a new string from who knows where, and was creating small art pieces without looking. "Yeah, that's right. You didn't miss much though." She pondered over it for a moment. "Nope, can't come up with anything extraordinary. You?"

She shared a look with Sarah, who shrugged. "Me either. But the boys from the Reservation were, like, kinda cute. Especially the one with the dimpled chin. His name was something like E… Not Elias.. Eric? No. They had like these really different names."

Dominique sighed. "C'mon Sarah, don't fawn over every boy you meet, it's getting annoying."

Sarah shot her a pointed look. "..says the one who like can't stop rambling about sport idols."

" _Like."_

She hit Dominique's knee in frustration. "Stop it. I can't like do anything-" She cringed at her own words. "Ugh, never mind."

Dominique laughed and faced me. "She's been trying to find a date for prom, but almost every guy has been asked my someone already. That's the downside of living in a town: too little cute boys."

"If only I'd asked E's phone number, then I like might've had a date by now. Do you think that'd be allowed?" she mused.

Dominique shrugged. "Probably. Why not? How about you Avery?"

So far I had listened politely to their banter, attempting to remove myself from the conversation slowly. Clearly it had not worked.

"To be honest, I am yet uncertain whether I will attend the dance in the first place. I have been living here for only three months after all."

Dominique waved it off. "Don't worry, we'll cover your back. But really, you have to come! Except for prom at the end of the year this is the only time it's legit to dress up! There'll be these beautiful decorations in and around school, and Damien will take care of good music and everything. Andrew better not mess up again," she added under her breath, suddenly dark.

Sarah hadn't heard the last part, and shared Dominique's dreamy vision. "And we'll all be wearing long beautiful gowns and the boys in tuxedo's, kyaa! Can you imagine, a first kiss at prom, so romantic!"

Dominique rolled her eyes. "But if dreamy little Sandradee here doesn't find herself a date, we can also go together instead of having to drag a guy around." Sarah closed her books and placed them aside as she listened to Dominique with a huff. "You could come dress-shopping with us on Saturday, she," Dominique pointed at the girl next to her, "still needs something to wear."

I cocked my head to the side, half-curious. "How about you then? At least, I assume formal attire is obligated?"

Dominique crossed her legs and hummed disapprovingly. "My mom wants me to wear one of her dresses, saves money. Until I find myself a job I can't buy my own clothes, she says."

A dimple formed between Sarah's chocolate eyes. "I already told you I can lend you the money, then you can, like, pay it back when you've saved some in the future. Chocolate bars would be fine too."

"No Sare," she shot back, "I'm a responsible and honest adolescent. And besides, I'm going to ask Brandon Smithson if I can get a job as a waitress at the café down the road."

Sarah knitted her eyebrows together. "I hope you don't mean the Rain Drop Café? 'Cause that one's, like, always got too many employees. Hate to break it to you, but it's like sort of impossible to get in there."

There was evident smugness in Dominique's voice when she replied: "Well, Brandon, the owner," she explained to me, "happens to be a friend of the family. My mom used to go to high school with him, and Jeremy's at the same university as Chris so I think I stand a pretty good chance."

I did not have the slightest idea of who Jeremy and Chris might be, but I hummed approvingly to satisfy her and pretend to show interest in the subject. While it was true that I did not mind listening to and learning about the lives of my classmates and friends, and even would encourage it were we at school, at this moment I still attempted to 'escape'.

"Well, I'm happy being a cashier," Sarah stated matter-of-factually. You should come work with us if the café doesn't work out."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm sure about that chance."

Sarah shrugged, and then seemed to, again, remember something concerning me. "Oh hey Avery, my dad said that he saw you like this morning with the newspapers when he was in the shop of our bakery. Do you have a new job or something?"

I confirmed the rumour.

Some weeks ago I had signed up for distributing a local newspaper, so as to earn some bit. Every morning at around 5 AM a pile would be ready I the mail storage room at the town's periphery, +- 500 copies. In distribution terms Forks and its surrounding land was split up in five different sections: The northern part of town, the southern part, the West including the road to La Push, the North in the direction of Sappho, and the Southwest along the river Calawah, where also my house stood. The fact that I had a driver's licence most definitely worked in my advantage, though I preferred to walk with each time a pile of newspapers on one arm or in a shoulder bag, whichever was more convenient. As you may have guessed I had been assigned to the southern district in town. Between 6 and 7 the few birds that were still here would begin to sing, and the first cars would pass. I had to make sure that everything had been delivered around 8, so that I would have enough time to get to school.

"But back to your statement earlier: does your family own the bakery?"

Sarah nodded. "Yep. The maker of bread since like 19-something. If it wasn't for my father I'd be working over there, but he thinks I'm still too young to handle it on my own." She rolled her eyes. "But yeah."

"You know, I always wanted to ask: do you eat home-made bread?" Dominique wondered, to which Sarah snickered.

"No shit Sherlock."

In the meanwhile I had decided that L till Z would have to wait for now, just as the other sections. "At any rate," I began, accidentally interrupting Dominique who had just started a sentence, "I have to go.."

Dominique looked slightly disappointed, but she still had a comeback to make. "Oh, okay. See you at school then!"

"Yeah bye!" Sarah chimed in, and I bid them another good bye before moving to the front of the library as quickly as possible without looking impolite or in a hurry. The books I placed on the counter, and the librarian put them under my name and a stamp with the date to return on a slab of paper in the front of each book. We bid each other a good day and with my now partially-dry-but-mainly-wet coat I exited the library through the glass door.

Outside I took a moment to recompose myself.

 _Right._

I pinched the bridge of my nose, sighed, attempted to push the dark cloud of bad feelings away, and tried to clear my thoughts.

 _That did not exactly go as planned. And unless I actually am going to tell them that I have to refuse the offer of a day out, they are certainly going to take me along… Strange that a girl whom I do not know went along with Dominique's proposal._

I elected to allow fate to decide. If it were to be, then let it be. After all, the prospect of a day with three dress-obsessed teenagers might not be as daunting a task as it seemed right now. Feigning a smile was always an option.

I crossed the street to my car quickly, books clutched to my chest. One of them was a book on modern violin music – composing was alongside gardening a hobby of mine, especially the violin as I play it myself. It was my most precious property despite it having been used quite the number of times before my ownership of it. Second-hand was the word generally used for this, though the term did not have my preference as it was often regarded as a bad thing nowadays. I obviously did not agree. Why would sharing the world's resources so as to say it be negative, or socio-economic status-related? Instead of throwing items away or accumulating unused objects it ought to be logical to sell them or give them away to someone who needed it. This way the waste of fossil fuels and other earth's resources would effectively decrease seeing that the demand and thus the production would drastically lessen. Economically seen this would most likely be catastrophic, but everything taken into account it would be one of the better things to do.

I fumbled with the keys to open the car, and gently placed the books on a back seat, next to a bag with seeds of spices I'd bought myself prior to the trip to the library. It being the 7th of March already, I had cleared a space in my garden-to-be and filled several pots with earth to grow plants, flowers and spices in. The basil, peppers, mint, thyme and rosemary would have to be placed in pots within the month, whereas the others such as chamomile, dill and lavender could be sowed in April in the garden itself.  
"Ah thought ya weren't a saettler."

My stomach churned upon hearing an all too familiar voice behind me. I whipped my head around. The parking lot was just as empty as it was before.  
After a few seconds I breathed out, feeling my heart flutter. _It's nothing,_ I attempted to reassure myself. _Just imagination._ To convince myself I spied my surroundings, but apart from the few cars on the parking lot, it was devoid from human beings. _It is all in your mind, not a thing to preoccupy yourself about._ Seeing as I still could not see a possible source of the sound, I turned back to my Mustang to resettle the bag and books in a way that they wouldn't topple over during the ride, and closed the door to step in on the other side. _There is no one, it was not real._

Like usual the interior also turned wet, or at least humid, because of the rain in and on my coat, but that was to be expected. Just as I was about to ignite the engine, a voice sounded from the back seat, turning my blood to ice.

"Huh. When have yah gone all flowahr-power?"  
 _With a look of disdain Pamela, short 'Pam', stared at the mass of wrinkled leaves on the window sill. She picked up the blue flower pot the plants were in and turned it around. "Or are yah making pot or somethin'?" Her black hair was neatly tied underneath a yellow-white headband, which matched her yellow button-up dress with white-edged pockets and a white strap around her waist. A cigarette air followed every moment. She placed the flower pot back down._  
"Hyptis crenata _,"_ I whispered absent-mindedly, attempting to hold my breath.  
 _"Hythewhat?"_  
 _"_ Brazilian mint."  
 _Pam huffed and turned to face me with one raised eyebrow. "Yea, well the black eyes tell a different stohry!"_

 _Knock knock_

I shot to the side, shaken. A face under a broad hat had appeared in front of the car window.  
"Mr Hudson," I whispered/realised after a short moment, and the man waved. I shook my head mildly to return to the here and now, and in a fluent motion I took the keys from the contact and stepped out of the car. _Compose yourself._

"Mr Hudson!" I repeater, louder. "How.. how pleasant to see you again on this, well, rainy day."

Humour and worry reflected in his eyes – only now I noticed they were grey. A smile settled on his features. He was still wearing a bus driver's uniform, therefore I assumed he had only just finished his shift.

"My, the pleasure's all mine! But are you alright, miss? You seemed far away."  
I shrugged apologetically. "Lost in thought, I suppose."  
He nodded. "Ah, well," He cleared his throat. "But it's been a while now, hasn't it?"

I clasped my hands in front of me out of habit. "It has, has it not? As about my being; I myself am in good health," P _hysically,_ my mind retorted darkly, "how about you, sir?"

He readjusted his hat with a short laugh. "I'm good, I'm good, but I believe I told you to call me Owen, haven't I? Or have I?" He was confused for a moment, and then shrugged to himself. "Well, no need to be that polite in this town."

"My apologies – it is more or less a habit of mine to use formalities. I fear that you might have to repeat your request more often in the future. Have you been to Port Angeles today?"

He sighed wearily, but his voice remained positive. "Among others. Once to Port Angeles, twice to Callam Bay and up and down to La Push for the remainder of the day."

I frowned upon seeing the tiredness break through. "Do you not enjoy your work?"

He looked at me with surprise. "Oh no, except for maybe fishing this is what I love most doing. But you see, this body is growing old. Long shifts take more energy than they used to, 'specially the knees." His eyes drifted off to the street, caught up in a memory. "I used to be able to go on for days, but these days driving for four hours already bothers me for the remainder of the day."

My frown deepened. "That does not sound very healthy. Perhaps taking a short break would be wise?"

He shook his head and frowned, too. "Won't do. I'll rust if I'm going to sit still, if I stop now I'll never be able to get on the road again."

The rain had penetrated my shoes and cold water began to soak my socks.

"I'm seeing the doctor next week Friday, we'll see what he thinks." He was silent for a moment, staring off into the distance. His wrinkles accentuated the frown that was still present. He then broke the silence by changing the subject. "But back to you. How have you so far experienced living here in Forks?"

A worried part of me had not yet let go of the state of his well-being, but I managed to place the former smile on my face. "As you have said yourself back then, it is quite an unique place to be. Everyone appears to be acquainted in some way, and the natural environment is simply stunning."

He nodded approvingly and stuck his hands in his deep pockets. "Yes, yes, that's very true. Ah, it's been too long since I've visited Mt. Olympus and the Windy Arm myself... I should warn you though, at this time it's bear season and after winter they're the most violent cause they're searching for food. Better wait till it's summer, when they're more at ease."

The water had formed a pool in my shoes. "I see, I will remember your advice. But as much as I hate to change the subject, we are becoming quite wet. Can I invite you for coffee at a nearby café?"

Mr. Hudson, clear-sighted as he was, glanced down at my feet and laughed. "Getting wet feet, aren't you? As for the coffee; I'd love to, but it's getting late – me and my wife are visiting the grandkids in Port Crescent. She'll be wondering what's keeping me so long."

I laughed understandingly. "Alright, another time then. I wish you a pleasant day."

"Will do, have a nice day." He tipped his hat with a smile and turned to continue his way. I had sploshing shoes. It would be useless to try driving with wet feet, and so I leaned with my back against the door of the car and managed with great effort to remove the brown laced shoes and dripping socks from my feet. When I held said footwear upside-down there was literally water pouring from them. I placed them in front of the co-driver seat. The car was wet anyway. I would've placed them in the trunk, but walking barefoot in winter: not a bright idea.

* * *

The next day at school was a busy one, seeing as I had to catch up with some of the projects done last week when I had been absent. Most of it I had been able to do on Monday and Tuesday, but then there were still the subjects that _had_ to be done at school, such as Chemistry, which I was allowed to do during lunch hour. Setting Magnesium on fire and putting the Lewis Structures and Molecular Shapes to practice. Mrs. Morrison thought it was funny, seeing as my last name was.. also Lewis! Believe me when I say that it was far from amusing.

It was not until the first bell rang that I realized what time it was. Late.  
I swiftly scribbled down the end of the sentence and stuffed back the blue pen in a similar colored pencil case. I took off the white lab coat to place it back on the coat rack, the goggles in a wooden bin and all the different instruments I had used in their proper places. Just as the second bell rang I scooped up my books and hurried out of the chemistry laboratory. The hallway was empty, as to be expected. Fortunately building 2 and 3 were 'under the same roof' so as to say, it was one building, but different parts within it.  
The door of the room was already closed when I arrived, and the noise within implied that class had long started. It was Wednesday, groupwork day. Mr. Howard was probably minding his own business and let the students continue their project independently, hence I needn't knock. I hoped.  
The door didn't make much noise in general, yet upon me entering the room the majority turned their heads, but their interest was quickly pulled back to their neighbor.

First, I quietly approached Erik and Andrew, who were stuck at one sentence. The both of them looked up, and I handed Erik a tattered, water-damaged notebook.

"Thank you for allowing me to borrow your notes, you have a very clear handwriting."

He shot a quick smile and shrugged. "No problem." The notebook was thrown onto a small pile of books on the corner of his table.

Just as I turned away, Andrew suddenly spoke up: "You're that southerner right, _Dominique's_ friend?"

The way he spoke Dominique's name gave me a sudden dislike of him: he spoke of her as if she was someone to laugh at.

"As a matter of fact, I am, yes," I confirmed, a bit puzzled. He stared at me with his cold blue eyes for a good minute. An uncomfortable feeling crept up to me, had I done something wrong? Was he angry with my response? Was he trying to figure something out? Why did he remain silent? But before I could do or say anything he stopped me with his tenor voice.

"Do you know what ἢλθόν means again? It's not anywhere in the dictionary."

I exhaled in relief that the silence was broken, and bent slightly forward to see how said word was written. "Hm, it might be a form of ἂγω, the –ov ending meaning it is an imperfectum form... But you shouldn't trust my judgement on this, Greek is not my best subject," I joked with a smile.

His eyes drifted back to the paperwork beforehand. "Yeah, you're probably right, thanks." He then reinitiated the discussion with his neighbor, giving me the opportunity to escape to my own desk.

For a change both me and Edward were present at the same time: yesterday and the day before it had been him who was absent, and the week before I had not attended school. Not to mention my backlog with groupwork resulting from a missed Wednesday was awful.

A side thought arose concerning the manner in which people nowadays greeted one another in the afternoon – good afternoon? That was a little too formal, now wasn't it? Hello? Hey? How are you? I arrived earlier at my desk than at an answer to that question. _Oh well._

I pulled the chair back to sit down and something like this came out: "Umm hi. Uhm." Honestly you'd think my speech skills would be a lot better than that by now. I swore Edward found it rather amusing, because when he faced me there was a glint of humor in his amber eyes.  
"How are you today?"  
I sat down and placed the pile of paper and chemistry books in front of me. "Hmm, I'm good. And you?"  
He nodded. "The same counts for me."  
"I apologize for not having been present last week, I was ill and then Monday you weren't here either so I translated the remainder of 4C if you don't mind.." I had opened my notebook so as to sort of show him the page as proof. Mentally I rolled my eyes at myself. _Smooth._  
"That is alright; I came to 4D myself." He showed me his own notes, written in a practiced, elegant handwriting.  
I smiled, feeling a bit more relieved. "Oh that is great! Can I perhaps borrow your notebook this afternoon so that I can copy it at home?" I asked in the hope that he would have no objection. "Then we can continue working on the other texts this hour."  
His voice was still neutral, but not unkind, when he replied: "Certainly, I agree with your plan. Shall we start at sentence 412?"  
As always Edward Cullen was reserved and closed, yet never since that first day had I caught him being unkind in any way. This only arose more questions about that first encounter, but I put it off as a mystery that would solve itself someday. I had to, there were more urgent mysteries at hand. Such as Andrew, what had triggered his odd reaction when he mentioned Dominique? With.. disdain? His strange behavior puzzled me. They were acquainted, like every other person present in the school and, I daresay, the entire town. But Dominique had never mentioned him. Come to think of it, they were never even on the same side of the room. In the cafeteria Andrew and his group of friends usually sat on the opposite side of the room, the side Dominique always, and then I mean always, had her back turned to. Was she evading him?

"They have a history, the two of them."  
I hadn't realized I was staring at Andrew until Edward spoke up with his velvet voice. I turned my head to look at him.  
"I overheard your conversation," Edward admitted shamelessly.  
I frowned. "What do you mean, 'they have a history'?"  
His eyes flickered to Andrew. "They used to be a couple.. or so I have heard. But I suppose they can explain it better to you themselves."  
My mind was spinning. They.. a couple?! But that didn't make sense.. Encroiable, my first guess would be something like Andrew having prejudices about Dominique or something along those lines. But a couple…

Edward did not disclose any more information after that and I didn't dare to ask. Not even after class when I saw Dominique I dared to bring up the topic, first I'd have to gather more.. second-hand information.

After school Bella and I went to the Swan residence. Her roaring truck rode in front and set the speed, which was a little under 50. If it were to go any faster I was afraid that it might ramble itself apart. But the red monstrosity was persistent and the both of us arrived safe and sound. To our surprise Chief- Charlie's cruiser was parked in front of the house, which either meant that he was home early or that something had happened in the neighborhood. The latter seemed unlikely.  
Bella slammed the car door shut behind her, frowning. "That's weird. Charlie is never early."  
Quietly I followed her inside where the sound of a baseball match engulfed us. We took off our coats and Bella immediately headed for the living room whilst I went to make tea in the kitchen. I may or may not have overheard them, which wasn't too hard with an open door.  
"Hey dad."  
"Hey Bells, how was school?" came the reply.  
"It was ok, I guess. Why are you home so early?" Bella asked straight to the point. The water was meanwhile heating up nicely.  
"Oh, there was nothing to do really. Pete was organizing files and Miles and Richard are out patrolling so they suggested I'd go home early."  
"Oh, okay. By the way, Avery's here too, she's in the kitchen."  
There was a short silence in which I reached for the tea bags and coffee pads in an overhead cupboard.  
"Hey Bells," Charlie began hesitantly in a hushed voice, "I was wondering, have you ever met her parents? I mean I've never heard about them in town, not even from Mrs. Anderson," he added meaningfully.  
Bella sighed. "She doesn't have any parents dad. They died when she was young." She had lowered her voice even more, but I could still clearly hear them.  
"Oh. Uhm." Charlie sounded surprised and a bit awkward maybe. "Right. So, she's living all on her own or something?" he quickly jumped to the next question.  
At this point Bella's voice turned to this seemingly emotionless tone which implied tiredness, boredom, absent-mindedness, frustration or disinterest, depending on the situation. I had made my own analysis about her voice and facial expressions: at first she may seem unreadable but once you got to know her you'd realize she was in fact an open book. She bit her lip when she was lying for example, and had a nail biting problem whenever she got nervous. "Yes. It's a governmental thing. You'll have to ask her about it if you want to know."  
"Right."  
Next there were footsteps to be heard, meaning Bella had gone upstairs: I had become nearly furniture in the past months so as to say, so it wasn't odd that both Bella and me would do as we pleased.

At last the water was boiling and I filled three cups, two for tea and one for the instant coffee I'd found instead. Passion fruit flavor for Bella seeing as she loved the exotic taste, black coffee for Charlie and green tea for myself.  
Unfazed by the overheard conversation I carefully brought the cups with me to the living room (which is a skill, believe me) and set them down on the table. As previously guessed Charlie was watching baseball from his favorite chair.  
"Hello Charlie." With a smile I looked up from the coffee table. "Here is some coffee, I thought you might want one."  
He looked away from the screen with a hint of surprise. "Oh, hello Avery. Thank you."  
I sat down on the small couch and held the hot cup in my hands.  
"How are you?" he asked as he returned to watch the game. Or match, whatever the term is.  
"I'm fine, how about you?"  
He cleared his throat and reached for the coffee. "I'm good. Usually busy with work, but yeah."  
It was silent for a moment and I heard Bella scurry around in her room. She would come downstairs again before long.  
"But, um, Avery," Charlie suddenly began uncomfortably, "do you know if Bella's always been so.." he was looking for the right word, "displeased with Forks?"  
First I was a bit puzzled how his train of thought had gone from my home situation to Bella's wellbeing, then I continued to listen after a mental shrug.  
"Because, well, when she used to visit she'd always be a bit happier to come here. And now.."  
I watched the water vapor twirl upwards from the hot liquid in my cup. I understood Charlie's concerns, he was her father after all. "Bella has a minor case of seasonal affective disorder," I confessed. "And now that she has shifted from warm and sunny to grey and overcast I suspect that there's a vitamin D deficiency playing a role in this as well," I stated, thinking back to the times when clouds had found their way to Phoenix for a considerable amount of time. As the days had gone by Bella had grown grumpier, she'd remained indoors and there had been little that could please or motivate her. Much like now. "Has she seen a doctor during the past months yet?" I looked over at Charlie, whose thoughts were clearly somewhere else than with the game.  
"Not yet, surprisingly," he mused. "I think that I'll make a call soon then.."

As if on cue Bella came walking down the stairs, completely oblivious to the conversation that had just taken place. She had changed into a comfortable bordeaux sweater as opposed to the green blazer she had previously been wearing. Quietly she settled next to me on the couch and picked up her cup of tea to cool her beverage down by blowing on it.  
For a while all that was heard were the commentator on TV and the sound of living human beings.  
"Oh by the way, Charlie-" Bella began to say but then corrected herself: "Dad, next weekend Jessica and Angela are going to look at dresses in Port Angeles for the dance." She took a sip and watched closely if Charlie was listening. "Is it alright if I go with them?"  
Her question surprised me in a sense, only because I hadn't heard of the plan before now. Charlie frowned and turned away from the TV. "I thought you said you didn't want to go to the dance?"  
That I did expect.  
Bella sighed. "No dad, but I'm helping them to find dresses. Giving them constructive criticism you know? And it doubles as Jessica's birthday party as well, she's having a sleepover later that night but I didn't want to stay for that," she said in a negotiating way.  
Charlie seemed to have his doubts. "What time will you be back?"  
"Probably before eight, we're leaving on Saturday in the afternoon."  
Charlie sighed and frowned. "Well okay then."  
Bella smiled. "Thanks dad. Will you be fine with dinner?"  
To this the frown disappeared and was replaced by a smile. "Bells, I've been looking after myself for longer than you, I'll be able to handle one day."  
Bella's smile became more sincere. "Sure you do."


	8. Port Angeles

Thursday went by in a flash - Friday did only become notable by the reminder from Dominique of the weekend. "Oh, by the way, Avery," she began after our conversation had shifted from the course of the hockey competition we had had the previous hour. We were sitting at the second table from the front next to the window, along with Sarah, Samantha Collins and Rochelle Smith, two of Sarah's classmates. Dominique was facing me, halfway through a sandwich.  
"Tomorrow you can either come to my home or I can pick you up in town, 'cause your home's a little far off the route."  
It took me a moment to realise what exactly she was talking about. Oh, right, the trip to Port Angeles. I was surprised that she still wanted to take me along: and to be honest, I didn't look forward to it that much.  
"Town will do just fine. The bus station?"  
Dominique nodded as she fiddled with Sarah's salad spoon. "It's probably best to leave on time, say, 12?"  
In that case, I would have plenty of time to walk my newspaper round.  
"I would agree on that. Do I have to take along anything special?"  
Sarah, previously engaged in another conversation, now leant forward over the table. "Nah, we can just, like, eat in that cute little restaurant, right?"  
Sarah sent a pointed look at Dominique, who sighed.  
"Sure, sure. You're not gonna budge on that anyway. I'll pick you up after Avery, okay?"  
"Sure, sure," she mimicked Dominique's tone. "I told you we were going there sometime, and we are."  
Dominique rolled her eyes with a smile. "Don't worry about it alright, I didn't say no."  
"But you thought it."  
I smiled fondly at the two as they continued to bicker, and looked around the cafeteria.  
At the table positioned diagonally across us was Bella with on her left Jessica, Angela on her right, Mike, Eric, Ben, Lauren and Tyler, the last few being more like acquaintances of Bella's than actual good friends. Lauren especially. The blonde was currently chatting with one of the girls at the table next to them whilst Bella seemed to be in a similar situation as I was. Jessica was rambling on about something Angela mostly agreed on, asking Bella a question every once in a while.  
Our eyes met and she tried to telepathically send me a message that most likely contained the letters S, O and S.  
I merely grinned back.  
She rolled her eyes with a hint of a smile as a response before her attention was drawn back to the entrance of the cafeteria.  
I followed her gaze and watched Edward and his siblings enter. As usual, they were headed for one of the tables next to the windows. The smallest girl with spiky black hair, Alice, was chatting animatedly with the tall blonde girl, Rosalie. The blond boy, was it Jasper? He was talking with the brawny guy, Emile- no, Emmett, and Edward who followed in after them.  
For some reason, Bella was still a little obsessed with the latter, even though she would never admit it.  
Just as I was musing over this, Bella allowed her dark brown hair to fall in front of her face, thereby creating a hairy curtain between her eyes and the rest of the world apart from her group of friends at the table.  
This had been a habit she'd already had from the moment we first met, back in Phoenix. She used to be the girl that often sat alone during lunch break, nose stuck in a book and she would never even as much as look up whenever someone passed. It had taken a terribly long time to coerce her out of her shell, but once you got to know her, Bella was actually a great friend. I could only feel happy for her that she had found new friends among her peers so soon, here.  
Now that I came to think of it, Bella also would go to Port Angeles tomorrow with Jessica and Angela, only a little bit later. Maybe we could find a chance to meet up with them then.  
Soon the bell rang, indicating the end of lunch break. Together with Dominique and Samantha Collins, I walked to the lockers where I took my books for Greek Literature. Yesterday I had forgotten to take Edward's notebook to school, this time I made sure it was there. He took his notes really carefully and his handwriting was neat and practised.

The remainder of Friday passed without any special or notable occurrence.  
Saturday morning the 12th of May came in the usual way of any Saturday: I left the house at 6 AM, drove to the town's distribution centre where I greeted Olivia Svenson, the manager of the centre, walked my round in the usual quietness of the morning and returned home at 8:15 with the assumption that Bella was most likely sleeping in.  
Then around noon I headed for town again, where I was met by Dominique soon after arrival.  
"Now that's what I call timing," she called from the driver's seat through the opened window.  
I smiled and approached the Volkswagen. "Yes indeed - it would be a shame if either of us would have to wait for a considerable amount of time."  
Dominique laughed, "Yeah well, I almost overslept this morning- I'd forgotten to activate my alarm."  
I stepped inside, claiming the back row. "You woke up by yourself then?"  
Through the mirror I could see Dominique raise an eyebrow. "You're not calling shotgun?"  
I frowned as I buckled in and placed my bag next to Dominique's, which was also on the back seat. "What is shotgun?"  
Dominique chuckled and drove out of the parking lot. "You have hereby officially undone your shotgun rights." She then proceeded to explain what shotgun was.  
I did not exactly understand as to why anyone would feel the need to turn the seating arrangement into a competition. With children it was understandable, but why did adolescents like Dominique and Sarah still partake in such activities? Soon enough we stopped in front of Sarah's home, a little further away from the town's centre. Sarah was, however, nowhere to be seen.  
Dominique had parked the car at the side of the road and turned it off with a sigh. "I'll go get her," she announced and got out.  
For a short while, I had the privilege to behold the backside of the town's bakery, which also served as the entrance of the Jameston residence. From the outside looked cosy. It had been built with wheat coloured bricks and brown brick decorations. The rectangular windows had been added to the house in a mostly symmetric way, but other than that, it didn't stand out more than the average townhouse.  
Before long Dominique emerged from the back door, followed by Sarah, who had some trouble with keeping her small bag off the ground. Her brown coat wasn't exactly cooperating either as the bag or rather satchel would slide off her shoulder. Dominique immediately stepped in on the driver's side whilst Sarah looked at me with a hint of surprise before walking to the other side of the car.  
"Heyhey," she sighed once inside and threw her satchel on the empty space next to the other two bags. "You didn't, like, call shotgun?" was her first question. She tried to face me and buckle in simultaneously.  
I shrugged. "I had no idea that shotgun even existed, hence I lost the right," I explained jokingly.  
Sarah laughed at that as Dominique drove us out of town. "Like, honest? Don't you know shotgun in Arizona or something?" Sarah questioned faux-concerned. "'Cause then we'll have to re-educate you entirely. Do you know any of the rules on calling shotgun?"  
Obviously not. "Um, no? Apart from this one I don't.."  
Sarah gasped and turned to Dominique. "Nic, how dare you! You've, like, left poor Avery completely in the dark!"  
Dominique smiled with her eyes focused on the road ahead. "I was too busy dragging your lazy ass out of the house to explain all the rules, but you go ahead. Spare her a little though, we still need her alive."  
Sarah turned back to me with a grin that promised no good. In the next hour, the freckled girl explained all the rules and sub-rules of calling shotgun to me, most of which were optional or overly obvious. She then continued on which rules she and Dominique frequently used.  
When she was finished, I was confused and we entered Port Angeles. I hadn't been here in months, I mused, having forgotten half of the rules already. Those months felt so much shorter though, rather weeks. Dominique parked the car in the town's centre near the restaurant they had meant when Sarah had mentioned eating out the other day. From there it was a short walk to the shop: it wasn't as grand or ambitious as the myriad warehouses in Phoenix' centre, but it still was bigger on the inside than one might expect. Sarah basically dragged Dominque inside while I followed them.  
"Come on, this way... Tadaaa!" She proudly presented a corner of the shop that was dedicated to dresses, skirts and gowns of all sorts and sizes.  
"That's a lot of dresses," Dominique commented dryly.  
Sarah snorted. "Well, duh. And I'm not the only one who's gonna fit a dress today you hear me? You're gonna try on some too," she demanded.  
Dominique rolled her eyes, giving off the impression that Sarah wasn't one to take no for an answer.  
"And you too Avery!"  
Wait, what? When had been decided that I was in need of a gown?  
"If you're going to prom with us," Sarah explained with a smug grin, "then you're going to, like, need a suitable dress. Right, Nic?"  
Dominique sighed. "Sare, if she doesn't want to-"  
"Don't 'Sare' me, sometimes you gotta treat yourself! And she can't miss her first prom here, especially Girl's Choice!" Sarah's facial expression suddenly changed into a meaningful smirk. "On that matter.. have you asked someone already Nic?"  
I expected Dominique to uninterestedly raise an eyebrow, but instead her face flushed. "No, I haven't."  
It was Sarah who raised the eyebrow. "Uh-huh. Sure you haven't. Come on, who is it!"  
Dominque looked between me, Sarah and her own feet uncomfortably. It took a moment of silence for me to get the hint. "Oh, I am – um- going to take a look at the racks over there.." I announced and moved to the back of the store.  
Even though I could still clearly hear the two talk, I tried to block it out and focus on the gowns there. They were more decent than the ones in the front, that is, they actually had a skirt part to just above the knees, just under or all the way to the ankles. In the second part, I found a cute black dress with three-quarter sleeves, a band around the waist and a black and white knee-length skirt that flowed from the waist.  
It would suit Bella perfectly, and it was the right size and all (that is what you get when you help your best friend folding the laundry). I decided to take it along, knowing that the chances of Bella picking a dress for herself were slim.  
Among the long dresses, I found myself a nice gown too, not too expensive either, a deep purple one with short sleeves and thin ribbons around the waist.  
"Avery, could you help?"  
With the two dresses, I walked back to the front, where Dominique and Sarah had just tried on their first dresses.  
"And?" Sarah asked expectantly and twirled around. "What do you think?"  
It was hard to keep my personal preferences out of the picture, but the dresses they were now wearing...  
"A general or an honest opinion?" I asked, not entirely convinced which answer they preferred.  
Dominique frowned. "Are they that bad?"  
I shook my head. "No, no! They are gorgeous, and people will love them at the prom," I quickly told them. It's just... I'm not certain... For some reason, the colour doesn't fit your hair exactly, and in your case," I turned to Dominique, who had chosen a plain dress, "I would say that you can have a bit more... I don't know, just... a bit more. This is your prom, you're allowed to shine," I added with a smile.  
Dominique took my advice better than Sarah, who really liked the dress. For a moment I feared that I had ruined whatever image she had of me, but within a few minutes, she began to search for another dress anyway. Not that I didn't feel bad about advising against her choice.  
They tried on different gowns and dresses after that, one better fitting than the other. In the end, Sarah opted for a dark green dress with a halter top, maxi skirt and an open back with straps crossed on her back.  
Dominique was holding a suitable dress consisting of a white top with a sweet heart neckline and a salmon pink tulle skirt that flowed from the waist.  
"Just take it Nic, it's absolutely fabulous," Sarah tried to convince her, however, Dominique remained doubtful.  
"I really like it too," she admitted, "but I... I mean, we have some dresses at home still, and this one's not low-priced or anything..."  
Sarah rolled her eyes and was about to say something when the bell of the store rang. Two girls entered, the first one I recognised as Jessica Stanley, and the second, more timid one was Angela. Jessica cast us a short glance before they headed off the far back of the store. Angela greeted us with a smile and a "Hey" before following Jessica. A third girl entered- Bella, of course. She had told Charlie earlier that she would be going to town with her new friends today also. She seemed a bit lost.  
I quickly walked over to her, leaving Sarah and Dominique to discuss the dress. "Hi Bella, how are you today?"  
When she saw me she gave me a smile in return."Hey. Um, yeah, it's okay. We had muffins on our way here," she added.  
I did not know what to do with that information. "Oh, alright, that is nice, I suppose. At any rate, you are going to look for a dress with them?" I had put the black dress in a canvas bag which I had brought from home, I intended for it to remain hidden for now.  
Bella sighed, following Angela and Jessica with her brown eyes, and habitually took hold of her sleeves. "I don't know. I'm only here for advice and for a fun day out with them, honestly. Maybe visit a small bookshop that I found online. I'm not going to prom anyway, I'm going to Seattle, remember?" There was uncertainty in her voice as if she was trying to convince herself of her plan.  
Behind me, Dominique had made her decision. "Come on Sare, let's pay for these."  
This sudden turn took Sarah by surprise. "Wait, so you are going to take the dress after all?"  
I looked back at them, just at the moment that Dominique glanced at Jessica and Angela. "Yeah, I'm sure." After which she walked in the direction of where the owner of the store had said she would be, somewhere in the back. Sarah cast me a confused look before running after Dominique, carrying her own dress.  
Was there something about the presence of Jessica, Angela and Bella that persuaded Dominique in her choice? I raised an eyebrow and turned back to Bella, who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.  
"So, why don't you go join them," I suggested her, and nodded towards Angela, who was looking through the variety of dresses, and Jessica, who was more interested in the shoe department.  
"Hm?" Bella looked up, startled, though hardly visible. "Oh, um, I don't know..." She bit her lip. "I think that they'll enjoy themselves, and I kinda wanted to go to that bookshop and it's getting late already..."  
About that she was right, me, Dominique and Sarah had been in this shop longer than I had expected. From the back, the two reappeared, both carrying a plain plastic bag. "Are you coming, Avery?" Sarah asked me, stopping in the door opening while Dominique walked outside.  
I mused the case for a moment. Then I shook my head.  
"I am terribly sorry, but I think that I will join Bella to the bookstore - I have not been in one in a long time, either," I told them, hoping that this decision would not hurt their feelings.  
Sarah looked between me and Bella, then back at Dominique with a slight frown, entirely different from the bubbly, cheerful Sarah that I knew.  
"Alright then, do we still need to pick you up or will you be fine?"  
I gave her a smile. "No worries, we will catch a bus if necessary. Thank you for taking me along," I added.  
Sarah nodded. "Okay. See you Monday, then," she concluded, the corners of her lips the slightest bit curled up.  
"See you then."  
Sarah exited the shop, and through the window, I could see her explain the plan to Dominique, who glanced at me.  
"Are you sure you want to go with me?" Bella asked, a bit late.  
When I looked back to the street, Dominique and Sarah were gone. "I do. Or would you rather prefer to remain here?"  
Bella's brown eyes darted back at Jessica and Angela, fiddling with the hem of her jacket. "Um.. Give me a sec." She walked over to Jessica and Angela and explained to them that she would not join them in the search for dresses. Again, they spoke hushed, but it was a small store, and I was not deaf.  
Jessica seemed to disagree but eventually shrugged. Angela just gave Bella a kind smile, and Bella returned to me. "Alright, let's go."


End file.
